Pokémon Mystery Dungeon - The Dark Blessing
by Ryu Taylor the Ferret
Summary: Pugno the Riolu and Pelame the Eevee have had two years to relax after saving the world of Pokémon from Darkrai's nightmare. But now, a new threat has arrived in the world of Pokémon, and it's up to Team Space-Time and friends to put a stop to it. The significance of this new threat is at an unbelievable level, making the future of the Pokémon world look very grim.
1. Chapter 1 - Peaceful World of Pokémon

**A/N: My sister is the artist of the front cover. It can be seen on her DeviantART page (Dracocrochet). Check it out for a better view. Also check out the alternate cover by coolgaltw (also of DeviantART). They both did excellent jobs, and I thank them both. With that said, here's the beginning of my fanfic magnum opus: the "Hope and Faith" saga. Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 1 – Peaceful World of Pokémon

Time flowed down its natural path. Ever since Temporal Tower had been repaired starting with the heroic efforts of Team Space-Time's leaders Pugno and Pelame, time went completely back to normal. Dialga's domain and responsibilities remained intact.

The spatial rift remained its harmless size. No harm came of it, and even Palkia had deemed it unworthy of any attention. As far as he was concerned, it was just as significant as a Plain Seed on the ground. Palkia's domain and responsibilities remained intact as well.

Treasure Town, home to the famous Wigglytuff Guild and many famous Explorers, experienced a perfectly ordinary day. Nothing calamitous had happened lately, and it had been that way for the past three years. In that time, the world-famous and heroic Team Space-Time, founded by a Riolu named Pugno and an Eevee named Pelame, had finally achieved the Guildmaster Rank. It was their well-deserved prize for conquering the fabled Destiny Tower. Their new Space Globe was proof of the accomplishment that earned them their new prestigious rank. It was as if Arceus himself was bestowing the Space Globe to them. The statue of Arceus was quite a sight to behold, but hearing him speak to them was even more surreal. What he spoke of was the true treat.

Their long-lost friends Grovyle and Celebi were spared from disappearing from history, as was Dusknoir and the Sableye soldiers. They couldn't help their skepticism of when Arceus mentioned Dusknoir and the Sableye turning good, but they decided not to dwell on it too much.

And now, it was time to rest. After a grueling climb through just about every danger a Mystery Dungeon could muster to such an extent that their quests for the Seven Legendary Treasures seemed like their task to retrieve Spoink's pearl, they deserved it.

* * *

The next day, while on a rescue mission at the Drenched Bluff, Pugno tried out the new Space Globe. It raised all of his stats to their maximum, and he could tell, especially after it caused his Aura Sphere attack to take out a chunk of a ceiling of Drenched Bluff courtesy of a Lileep that moved quickly. That in turn flooded the floor they were on, but they were luckily able to rescue the Sneasel sisters who sent the distress call out, and also escape the dungeon before being washed out. With the job done, the four set out for Treasure Town.

"So, about that Aura Sphere," the taller, older Sneasel started. "Pretty powerful."

"What's your secret?" asked the shorter, younger Sneasel. "What, did you eat a cereal bowl of Violent Seeds for every meal of your life or something?"

"Actually, it's because of this Space Globe Pelame and I got from the peak of Destiny Tower," Pugno answered.

"Destiny Tower?" the younger Sneasel asked.

"Wait, does that mean you two are the ones who were said to have scaled it yesterday?" the older Sneasel asked in an excited tone.

"How did you know?" Pelame asked.

"Well, actually, we've known about you two for quite a while," the older Sneasel said. "Exploration Teams who saved the world twice generally are well-known. You can't really think we didn't know you'd scaled that tower."

Pelame blushed slightly. "Thanks…" Pelame said, giggling.

"May I join Team Space-Time?" the older Sneasel suddenly blurted out.

This announcement caught Pugno and Pelame completely by surprise. No rescued Pokémon had made such an offer before, especially in such an unexpected fashion as this.

"You r…really want to join us?" Pelame asked.

"You sure about that, sis?" the younger Sneasel asked. "You'll have basically no free time anymore if you're with these two and their Exploration brethren."

"Does your sister have some sort of problem with Exploration Teams?" Pugno asked, surprised at the younger Sneasel's statement.

"Not really," the older Sneasel said. "She just thinks it's a waste of time to do what Exploration Teams do. She'd rather spend her free time taking candy from babies."

"Very funny, sis," the younger Sneasel retorted. "You know babies are the only ones I don't steal food from."

"If you really want to, then yes," Pelame said. "Your sister is welcome, too, if she changes her mind."

The older Sneasel hugged Pelame very tightly in her excitement of being admitted.

"Thank you so much!" she said. "You're the sweetest Pokémon ever!"

* * *

Once they reached the Wigglytuff Guild's first subfloor, Pugno and Pelame got a new Team Badge ready for the older Sneasel sister.

"Welcome to the team, Sneasel," Pugno said as he gave the older Sneasel an Exploration Team badge.

"I promise to serve the Team well," the older Sneasel said. "May you make my badge say 'Loyal,' please?"

"How about 'Exhausted?'?" the younger Sneasel said. "Since that's what she's going to be after every single mission you'll be dragging her by the tail to every day."

"I think 'Loyal' is a nice name for her," Pelame said, ignoring the younger Sneasel's snarky comment. "Chimecho, her nickname is 'Loyal.'"

"Here you go, Loyal," Chimecho said, handing the badge to the older Sneasel.

"After all these years, it still amazes me how fast you engrave badges, Chimecho," Pugno said.

"Sis, you are going to regret this," the younger Sneasel said.

"Lighten up, sis, I'll be fine," the older Sneasel said, putting her badge on. "And my name is now Loyal."

* * *

It had been quite an eventful day for Pugno and Pelame. Not only did Pugno discover how dangerous the Space Globe could be, but they also gained a new teammate. The two were now getting settled back home at Sharpedo Bluff.

"You think Loyal can take the Guild's training, Pelame?" Pugno asked, referring to Loyal's decision to stay at the Guild for the time being. "You know how hard it was for us."

"I think she'll be fine," Pelame said, getting settled into her bed. "The other Guild members can help her out if she needs it. Plus, we can check in on her every now and then."

"Sounds good to me," Pugno responded, settling into his bed. "Now, what should we do about this Space Globe? You saw how dangerous it made me today."

"As we agreed, we shouldn't use it too much. Suppose it falls into an enemy's hands during one of our jobs for the day."

"In that case, I don't think we should ever use it again, at all. It's too much of a chance to take."

"Whatever you want to do is fine with me. If you feel it's too dangerous, then we'll store it away."

"Good idea. Let's find a hiding spot tomorrow. Kangaskhan Storage unfortunately won't be a good spot."

"Then that's what we'll do." Pelame yawned and shivered a bit. "Good n-night, Pugno."

"Are you all right? It's not cold at all tonight."

"I'm fine. I just felt cold all of a sudden. I'll be fine."

"Okay then. Good night, Pelame."


	2. Chapter 2 - A New Threat?

_In Team Space-Time's last adventure, Pugno and Pelame rescued a pair of Sneasel who got lost in the Drenched Bluff. The older sister took on the name Loyal, and joined the team. Now Pugno and Pelame have decided to try to find a place to hide their new Space Globe._

* * *

Chapter 2 – A New Threat?

* * *

**"You know you let him be the reason you threw your life away," said a Dark figure. The voice was high and raspy, sending chills down Pelame's spine and making her fur stand on end. She could hardly bring herself to move.**

**"Being an Explorer has caused you to make a lot of enemies. You could never have wanted that, could you?"**

**"I don't know what you're talking about!" Pelame shouted, finding the courage to speak again. "Becoming an Explorer was my lifelong dream!"**

**"Then why did you never think of the hazards involved before pursuing your dream?" said the figure. "Or did you, and that was what was holding you back? There has to be a reason you used to be the biggest disgrace to all Pokémon, only to become the enemy of Darkness itself."**

**"That was actually a big part of why I decided to be an Explorer. I've always liked hearing legends about the past, so I wanted to see if I could make any discoveries. But I wanted to better myself as a Pokémon. And when I met Pugno, I felt like I was safe near him. He helped me get my foot in the door."**

**"And so everything else that followed was his fault. Because of him, you've been in more danger than any Pokémon before you. Blasted by poisonous gas, nearly fried by a tribe of traveling Electric Pokémon, nearly executed by a friend-turned-enemy, nearly executed again by said friend-turned-enemy and his boss, and not to mention nearly talked into offing yourself! Oh, and then, nearly killed by your latest enemy!"**

**"Nothing but occupational hazards when you're charged with saving the world!" Pelame shouted, having enough of the figure's raving.**

**"And since you're still an explorer, you're still a target. I happen to know exactly what's coming next for you."**

* * *

Pelame awoke to the sight of Pugno warming his hands by the fireplace of Sharpedo Bluff. He was almost touching the flame.

"Pugno, are you trying to burn yourself?" Pelame asked in a joking manner.

"Hopefully," Pugno answered with no comedy at all. "They're practically frozen solid. You were like ice when I tried to wake you up."

"I don't know why that was. It's summer, but I'm freezing. I still am." Pelame came closer to the fire. "Even when I get close to a heat source like the fire, it doesn't seem to work."

Strangely, when she stood next to Pugno, the fire went out.

"Okay, that's not good at all," Pugno said. "Something's wrong with you."

"I don't know what it could be, unless this is what that figure was talking about last night in my dream," Pelame said.

"A figure in your dream? What was it talking about?"

"It was trying to say that I made a mistake when I decided to become an Explorer. It tried to blame you for 'ruining my life.' I don't know why it thinks it was bad that I became an Explorer."

"It sounds really suspicious to me, Pelame. We'll have to investigate that."

"I agree. But we'll have to do that later, after we figure out what to do with that Space Globe."

"I've taken care of that already. It's hidden in the source of the fountain."

"Really? I thought you wanted to hide it, not stick it somewhere where it might as well be back in the tower we found it in! How did you even get into the source of the fountain's flow anyway?"

"From the beach. I had Lapras take me to the foot of the bluff, and then I dove down and found the source of the fountain. Then I just placed the Space Globe in a spot where the flow won't move it in any direction."

"I'm not even going to ask how you got Lapras to agree to that, but I will ask how you got inside such a small, tight area."

"I just swam in as far as I could go before it got too small for me to fit."

Pelame was confused, but decided not to ask any further on the matter.

"Well, anyway, we should get to work now," Pelame said, leaving the bluff with Pugno following her.

* * *

"SMILES GO FOR MILES!" shouted Loyal, following the lead of her fellow Guild personnel.

"Now then, TIME TO GET TO WORK!" Chatot shouted, sounding the usual call to duty.

"HOORAY!" shouted everyone at once.

The Guild crew dispersed from the Guild's second subfloor, which was frequently used for the morning announcements. Before Loyal could leave, her sister got her attention.

"Sis, that was embarrassing," said Loyal's sister, who decided to keep her species name.

"Hey, hey! Why did you bother staying and watching then?" Corphish asked, fed up with Sneasel's attitude.

"YEAH, we had to deal with your SNOBBY attitude toward us ALL NIGHT!" Loudred shouted, also pushed to his limit.

"I just like seeing you dullards embarrass yourselves," Sneasel said. "I don't have a clue what my sister saw in you idiots."

"That will be enough out of you," Chatot said. "If you're not going to help out here, the best place for you to go is outside, where you won't cause any trouble."

"ALLOW me to escort her out!" Loudred shouted, advancing on Sneasel. He then picked her up and took her to the guild's front door. "Stay OUT and SHUT UP!" were his words as he tossed her out.

* * *

Having completed the objective of hiding the Space Globe, Pugno and Pelame decided to go to the Guild to check on Loyal.

"I think they'll give Loyal a job that's just at her skill level," Pelame said as they both climbed the stairs to the Guild. "I've never known the Guild to ask the impossible out of anyone. Sure, they don't take it easy, but still."

"I just wonder how well she'll take having to give a lot of her earnings to the Guild," Pugno said. "It probably will upset her, knowing how her species is."

"Well, maybe. It's a Guild rule though, and even _we're_ still bound by that ru—"

Pelame was cut off by Loyal's sister Sneasel landing right on top of them.

"You call THAT throwing, bigmouth?!" she shouted at the Guild's direction.

"Good morning, Sneasel," Pugno said, crawling out from under her.

"How are you today?" Pelame said, doing the same.

"Well, I've already complained," Sneasel said. "That Loudred is very thin-skinned."

"So you were annoying him all day, huh?" Pelame asked.

"I don't even have to try to annoy him," Sneasel said smugly. "My stupid sister's inside, if you're here for her."

"Thanks," Pugno and Pelame both said, heading inside the Guild.

* * *

In front of the Job Bulletin Board of the Guild's first subfloor, Loyal had a concern to address to Loudred.

"Loudred, that was a little bit too rough how you handled my sister," Loyal said. "I know she can get annoying, but she's not a bad Pokémon."

"I never SAID she was bad, just REALLY annoying," Loudred said. "ALL night last night she was going ON and ON about how stupid we all are to be doing what we do! How do you DEAL with her, being as she's your SISTER?"

"She really is a nice Pokémon, once you get to know her. She's just mischievous. She's a thief, but not a criminal. She never keeps any valuables she steals."

"So what, is she a 'thrill-of-the-hunt' kind of Pokémon?" Pelame asked, entering the Guild's first subfloor.

"Something like that," Loyal answered, turning to face Pelame and Pugno. "Good morning, by the way."

"Good morning to you too, Loyal," Pugno said. "Your sister bumped into us on the way in, thanks to Loudred."

"THAT'LL teach her to keep badmouthing explorers!" Loudred bragged.

"How about this one?" Loyal asked, holding a Job post. "It looks simple enough for a beginner. It says 'I'm starving! Please bring a Perfect Apple quickly!'"

"A PERFECT Apple?!" Loudred asked. "How will you do THAT job? That's the Guildmaster's FAVORITE food! Unless that job is at the Apple Woods, that job will be IMPOSSIBLE, unless the Guildmaster will part with—"

"ROBBED!" Chatot shouted. "THE GUILD'S BEEN ROBBED!"

Chatot came running frantically around the Guild in an absolute panic.

"Oh, thank goodness you two are here!" Chatot panted. "A Perfect Apple has gone missing! You need to get it back, or at least get a replacement for it!"

"Don't worry, Chatot," Pelame said. "We'll take care of it." Pelame and Pugno headed out at once.

"Please don't fail!" Chatot shouted. "You know what Perfect Apples mean to the Guildmaster!"

* * *

"Wow, for an idiot leading idiots, he sure has good taste in the food he likes," Sneasel said, munching on a Perfect Apple on her way down to the crossroads of Treasure Town. She turned to face an angry Pugno and Pelame.

"Berating the Guild was tolerable, Sneasel," Pelame scolded. "But stealing from the Guildmaster is a very low action to take."

"Gimme a break," Sneasel said. "I didn't steal all of them. In fact, here, take these three."

"And where did you get these other two when one went missing from the Guild?" Pugno asked with skepticism.

"Apple Woods," Sneasel said. "Where else would they be other than the living balloon's pantry, or stomach? If they're so important to you, take them."

"Thanks," Loyal said. "Now I can complete my first mission!" Loyal set out at once for the Beach Cave to deliver the item. "Take that other one back to the Guild and we'll meet at the beach!"

"Sneasel," Pelame said. "I never thought I'd say this, but thank you."

"Yeah, whatever, go away," Sneasel said.

* * *

As promised, Pugno and Pelame met up with Loyal on the beach. Having completed her Job at a breakneck pace, she had been waiting for a few minutes for her Teammates.

"Maybe that mission was a bit _too_ easy," Loyal said. "The Meowth who requested that Perfect Apple was practically at the entrance."

"Did he enjoy it?" Pugno asked.

"Totally," Loyal said. "I thought he was going to choke on it, he scarfed it down so fast."

"I've always wondered what Perfect Apples taste like," Pelame said.

"He was really relieved to have it. He looked really battered when I reached him," Loyal said.

"Battered?" Pelame asked. "Were the Pokémon in there attacking him?"

"Yes," Loyal said. "And they were abnormally vicious. I was only in there for fifteen minutes, but it felt like being ganged-up on. At least, that's what was happening to that Meowth. He said he had been abducted from his home in the Boiling Forest by those Pokémon. They also forged that Job Request, hoping an Exploration Team would wander into their trap. And those Pokémon appeared to be more powerful than their species normally are. Not to mention a lot more aggressive."

"That sounds really strange," Pugno said.

"In fact," Loyal continued. "I'd even say they were outright murderous. The way they were fighting resembled tactics a serial killer would use, since they weren't trying to harm him as much as they were trying to kill him. That Meowth probably would have died if I hadn't gotten there. I made short work of them, but it was still a strange experience. It's like something gave them power and corrupted their minds."

"Pugno, I think we may be dealing with a new enemy," Pelame said grimly. "That dream I had might have been warning me about it."

"We should get back to the Guild," Pugno said. "Everyone needs to know about this."

Pugno, Pelame, and Loyal started on their way back to the Guild. However, Pelame saw the Figure from her dream standing on the water. As if suddenly possessed, she started walking toward the water. She stopped just at the point where the water from the waves reached the shore.

Her mind suddenly felt attacked.

**"Still Exploring, I see. Your life must mean nothing to you, then."**

No words were spoken to her this time, but her mind still somehow heard them.

**"It's your own fault. The Dark Blessing is seeking you out, Pelame. And it won't stop until it finds you."**

"How do you know my name?" Pelame asked. "And what is this 'Dark Blessing?'"

**"You will know what it is once it catches up to you. It knows your name, and everything else about you. It knows who your friends are, what you value most, and it knows exactly what's going to happen to you and everything you find precious."**

"Pelame, what's taking you—" Pugno started, having gone back to see what was keeping his partner at the beach. He saw her shivering uncontrollably as something resembling ice was covering her.

Pelame was becoming very unnerved by the words attacking her mind. What exactly _was_ in store for her and everything that mattered to her?

**"There's nothing you can do. Your Explorations have taken you into Darkness itself, and it happens to find you either suitable for its use, or a threat that must be disposed of as soon as possible. And the more you try to escape it, the slimmer chance you have of ever seeing the light again."**

"Pelame, we need to go," Pugno said. It was effort to reach Pelame since the cold coming off of her was starting to lower his body temperature, but he made it. Upon further inspection, the material covering Pelame looked like a formless dark energy that was latching onto her like ice. It felt like she was freezing solid, and she looked like she was in a trance.

**"It is almost there. The Dark Blessing will be with you soon."**

"I don't want this 'Dark Blessing!'" Pelame screamed, terrified. "I'll never accept it! I'll fight it to my dying breath!"

"Pelame, snap out of it!" Pugno shouted, causing Pelame to do just that. She collapsed in front of Pugno, not fainting, but clearly overwhelmed and terrified. However, she warmed up instantly.

"What was happening to you?" Pugno asked, very worried for his partner. "What were you yelling at?"

"That figure from my dreams was on the water," Pelame said, still apprehensive. "It was telling me that something called the 'Dark Blessing' was hunting me down, and that it would catch up to me no matter what I did."

She looked up at Pugno with tears in her eyes.

"I don't want that thing to get me, Pugno! I don't know what it's going to do to me! It'll either kill me, or possess me, and I don't want either to happen. I'm scared, Pugno. I've never been this scared in my life."

Pugno helped Pelame to her feet. "Pelame, nothing is going to happen to you," he said. "I'll protect you from that stupid thing no matter what happens."

"Thanks," Pelame said, slightly reassured. "But, what if it tries to do something to you? I don't want you to suffer whatever fate that 'Dark Blessing' inflicts. No one should have to."

"I'll fight it to my dying breath," Pugno said. "If this 'Dark Blessing' thinks it can mess with us, I'll make it pay."

"Then I'll do the same right by your side," Pelame said, regaining her courage. "Sorry for upsetting you. We should go back to the Guild."

* * *

It was just after the Guild's dinner that the Guild crew reported to the Guildmaster's chamber to announce the incident that happened at the beach.

"Oh my gosh!" Sunflora squeaked. "Why would this 'Dark Blessing' want you, Pelame?"

"I'm curious about that, too," Chimecho said. "What could Pelame have ever done to deserve something so scary?"

"We're clueless," Loyal said. "I mean, she and Pugno saved the world twice. That _could_ have something to do with it, but there's really no being certain."

"Hey, hey! Are you suggesting something else is threatening the world?" Corphish asked.

"And it's STARTING by trying to do WHATEVER to Pelame?" Loudred asked.

"That could very well be a possibility," Pugno said. "And it may not just be her. I could be a target, too."

"Actually," Chatot said. "From Loyal's report, the Pokémon in the cave went absolutely berserk. That could mean this 'Dark Blessing' doesn't really care who or what it comes across. It sounds like it's completely indiscriminant of who or what it attacks, be it weak Pokémon, strong Pokémon, young, old, you name it."

"But that's assuming the 'Dark Blessing' was responsible for their behavior," Dugtrio said. "From what Pelame said, it was threatening to kill her if it couldn't possess her."

"So it may have chosen to possess those Pokémon in the cave, then," Bidoof said. "That sounds believable to me."

"But the problem is how to deal with it, if it really is the newest threat to the world," Loyal said.

"Team Space-Time should be able to figure it out," Diglett said. "After all, they saved the world twice already. Why can't they do it a third time?"

"We'll do our best," Pelame said. "It'll be a lot tougher this time, I'm sure, but we'll do it."

"And we'll help out, like before," Chatot said. "Right, Guildmaster?"

The Guildmaster's eyes were wide-open, but he wasn't responding.

"What's wrong with the Guildmaster?" Loyal asked.

"He was asleep the entire time, it looks like," Pugno said. "He can sleep with his eyes open."

"It's no use," Chatot said. "I'll let him know about all of this in the morning. In the meantime, we should all get to bed. We've got a busy day tomorrow."

The Guild members all dispersed to their rooms.

"He really can sleep with his eyes open?" Loyal asked herself as she went to her room. "Really and truly?"


	3. Chapter 3 - Body Count

_On the last adventure, Pelame was menaced by a figure who told her about a mysterious "Dark Blessing," making it unclear exactly what it would do to her, but making it clear that it's after her. While info on that is being sought out, Loyal is proceeding with her Guild training._

* * *

Chapter 3 – Body Count

* * *

For the day's mission, Loyal decided to try out a Job posted on the Outlaw Notice Board located on the right side of the Guild's first subfloor. Though she couldn't help but be curious about something. Unfortunately, despite all the explanations she was given the previous night, she still couldn't grasp it.

"He really can sleep with his eyes open?" Loyal asked.

"For the LAST time, YES!" Loudred shouted, having heard that question enough times to drive him crazy.

"The Guildmaster is such an amazing Pokémon," Sunflora sighed. "You should see him in battle."

"Does he do any jobs himself?" Loyal asked. "And does Chatot?"

"I'm sure they do," Bidoof said. "No one knows what they do, though. But, golly, are they good at it."

"I'd like to see them catch an outlaw," Loyal said, taking down a "wanted" poster. "Not this Crobat, though. This one's mine."

"An A-Rank outlaw?" Bidoof asked. "Beginners usually shouldn't go after outlaws like that."

"Don't stop her," Sneasel said, seemingly materializing out of nowhere. "Like me, she'll do what she sets her mind to. Except, she had to choose something frivolous to do, instead of something actually useful."

"And WHAT'S so useful about STEALING from whoever you want?!" Loudred demanded. "THAT sounds useless to me!"

"In that case, you can have this stupid thing back," Sneasel said, throwing a Nice Bangle at Loudred. "After all, _I'm_ not someone who has to rely on items to get by."

Pugno and Pelame entered the Guild to the usual sight of Loudred and Sneasel bickering. At this point, this had become a normal Guild routine, as it would likely be while Loyal trained there. Some of the Guild members even reluctantly found themselves admitting to being amused at some of Sneasel's wisecracks.

"Those two ought to be put on an exploration mission together," Pelame joked.

"COME AGAIN?!" Sneasel and Loudred shouted simultaneously.

Sneasel, being the opportunist she is, took her chance. "Jinx! And I don't mean the Pokémon from the Icy Island! I mean personal Jinx! No talking unless someone says your name."

"Oh, just TRY to shut me up!" Loudred challenged. At that, Sneasel brandished a Wonder Orb. Everyone in the room except Loudred got down on the floor quickly, recognizing the orb as a Silence Orb. Even Loudred recoiled a bit. "You wouldn't dare…"

"LOUDRED!" Sunflora shouted, hoping to put an end to the argument. Sneasel glared in her direction as all the Guild crew in the room rose to their feet again.

"Well, every party needs a pooper, that's why they invited you," Sneasel said, pointing at Sunflora. Sunflora paid Sneasel no further attention.

"I heard you chose to go after an A-Rank Outlaw," Sunflora said to Loyal. "You should take Pugno and Pelame with you. That Crobat looks dangerous."

"Don't worry, we'll keep her safe," Pugno said. "We've been interested in going after this one, too." He pointed toward the description of the Outlaw. It read: "_Very ruthless. Reported to have access to moves and power his species shouldn't normally. Will not so much attempt to knock out others as attempt to kill others. Use extreme caution."_

"Oh my gosh!" Sunflora squealed upon seeing that description. "Maybe he has a 'Dark Blessing!' That has to be how he can know moves his kind can't normally use!"

"No doubt about it," Pelame said. "That's why we're going after him. Maybe we can get some answers about the 'Dark Blessing' from him."

"Of course, we'll have to apprehend him first," Pugno said. "There's no way he'd voluntarily give away valuable information, even if he wasn't possessed."

"Luckily, we don't have to travel far to reach him," Pelame said. "We've been to Mount Bristle before."

"I've gotten the supplies ready," Loyal said, toting a Toolbox full of Defense Scarves. "There's Oran Berries and Foe-Hold Orbs hidden under the scarves."

"Perfect," Pelame said. "Then let's get going."

Before they could leave, Pelame was called by Sneasel.

"What is it?" she asked, only for Sneasel to grab her and pin her to the wall.

"All right, listen and listen well," Sneasel seethed to a nervous Pelame. "I'll let my sister go with you two dullards to catch that showoff. But you'd _better_ bring my sis back alive. You hear me?! If _anything_, and I do mean _ANYTHING_ bad happens to her,…" she got into Pelame's face. "…I will screw you up so badly that that 'Dark Blessing' will be saved the trouble of doing so! _Understand?!_"

All Pelame could do was nod. That served to satisfy Sneasel enough to set her down.

"Sneasel, I knew you cared," Pelame said as she left the Guild to do the job.

* * *

Mount Bristle had no occupancy of Pokémon afflicted by the "Dark Blessing," despite there being a notorious Outlaw on the premises rumored to exhibit its power. The three Explorers were almost certain they were huddling together in Crobat's hiding spot, since there weren't even any regular Pokémon hassling them. Overall, it was an eerily empty feeling that carried suspense with it. And along with it, there was a distinct stench in the air, as if something had died and its body was on the mountain.

"We must be getting close," Loyal said. "It smelled like this when I was near those possessed Pokémon yesterday."

"And that was despite there being no dead Pokémon," Pelame said, trying not to breathe through her nose. "Crobat must have it worse than those Pokémon in the Beach Cave did."

"I wonder if these Defense Scarves we're wearing are even going to do anything," Pugno said. "We may end up using that Escape Orb after all."

At last, the team reached the clearing where Pugno and Pelame had once fought Drowzee, only to find dead Pokémon scattered around everywhere. The stench of death was overwhelming, which was the situation Crobat wanted them to be in.

"You missed the demonstration of my newfound power," Crobat crooned. "As you can see, it's nothing to be taken lightly." He spread his wings and flapped once. "Malevolent Wind!"

The team felt as though they had been hit by five simultaneous Silver Wind attacks. However, they also felt as if they'd been hit by an attack that was of a type that trumped their own.

"The power of the Demon Type is my reward for accepting the 'Dark Blessing,'" Crobat cackled. "Now nothing can stop me! Least of all, you little nothings! Wicked Ball!"

A volley of evil energy shots was launched at the Team, who moved quickly to avoid it. Crobat responded by surrounding himself with the energy and then launching it as several tiny shots. This move proved to be unavoidable.

"It's no use," Pugno said. "We have to take him directly. Evasive action won't cut it."

"Correction," Crobat taunted. "NOTHING will!"

Before Crobat could launch another attack of any kind, Loyal hit him directly with an Ice Beam. Though he was caught off-guard by the sudden attack, he wasn't subdued by it. However, this gave Pugno a chance.

"Aura Sphere!" he shouted, scoring a direct hit. Following this, Pelame took her shot.

"Iron Tail!" she shouted, scoring a direct hit closely following Pugno's shot. Unfortunately, the three attacks served only to annoy Crobat.

"Insignificant wastes of energy," he said. "The Demon Type is insurmountable. Try all you want, it will do you no good!"

Crobat started to generate an aura of evil around himself.

"Now, bear witness to the true power of the 'Dark Blessing!'" he roared.

The ground started to shake and the energy was starting to blow the team away as if it were a strong wind.

"This is going to hurt," Loyal said grimly.

"Brace yourselves, everyone," Pelame said.

However, just as Crobat was set to launch his attack, his own power rebounded on him, and he fell to the ground.

"What in the world?" Pugno asked.

"Did he just knock himself out?" Loyal asked, just as confused.

The team went to apprehend him, seeing nothing else to do. But when Pugno went to pick him up, he made a horrible discovery. He backed away in a hurry.

"Pugno, what's wrong?" Pelame asked.

"He's not knocked out," Pugno said. "He's dead!"

"Wha— how?" Loyal asked, horrified.

"It couldn't have been—" Pelame started, then coming to a horrible realization. "He underestimated the 'Dark Blessing!' He must not have been able to handle all that power, and it killed him when he tried to use too much of it!"

"That's horrible!" Loyal said. "But what do we do now? Do we take his body to Officer Magnazone? Does he know a coroner?"

Before anything else could be said, Crobat's corpse suddenly caught fire, as did the corpses of the other dead Pokémon in the clearing. In seconds, the pitch-black flames reduced the bodies to nothing. Not even ashes remained. The team left without a word.

* * *

In the Guild's Mess Hall, it was an ample opportunity for Team Space-Time to share with the Guild what had happened at Mount Bristle. It wasn't taken well.

"Oh my gosh, how horrible!" Sunflora squeaked. "Killed by power something gave him?!"

"That is what I call EVIL!" Loudred shouted.

"Yes, it sounds that way," Chatot said. "This 'Dark Blessing' is more dangerous than I would have ever imagined. We know that it either possesses or kills. But now it seems it can kill even those it has already possessed, as well as removing the evidence that it possessed someone."

"But who exactly was it that gave that Crobat the 'Dark Blessing' anyway?" Chimecho asked. "That's what I'm curious about. Because it sounds like it's being freely distributed."

"Hey! Hey! Who in their right minds would distribute such an evil thing?!" Corphish demanded.

"After all," Bidoof said. "It sounds like it gets around on its own just fine."

Before the conversation could continue any further, the ground heaved as if suffering an earthquake. Everyone dove under the table per the earthquake procedure. After about seven minutes, the shaking stopped, and everyone got out from under the table.

"Golly, that was a huge one," Bidoof said. "Felt like the whole planet was falling apart."

"Anyway," Chatot continued. "We should do something about this 'Dark Blessing,' and fast."

"Guild crew!" Guildmaster Wigglytuff said. "We will be focusing our efforts on capturing the one responsible for the 'Dark Blessing!' Effective tomorrow!"

"UNDERSTOOD!" shouted everyone in the mess hall, except for Sneasel.

"The 'Dark Blessing' will be stopped!" said Guildmaster Wigglytuff. "YOOOOM-TAH!" The Guild shook under the Guildmaster's Hyper Voice.

* * *

Back at Sharpedo Bluff, Pugno and Pelame were deep in thought about what could be done about the "Dark Blessing."

"The 'Dark Blessing' gets more and more frightening by the minute, Pugno," Pelame said. "I'm only one out of who knows how many other focuses."

"Personally, I'm not sure if we're going to be able to stop it by ourselves," Pugno confessed. "We need help."

"I agree. We need someone who can fight darkness."

"Someone who can withstand that 'Demon type' classification."

"But, do we know someone fitting those descriptions?"

Pugno and Pelame both thought about it for a moment. Suddenly, their faces perked up, and they looked at each other with joyful and hopeful expressions.

"Cresselia!" they both shouted with glee.

* * *

Elsewhere in the world, a Dimensional Hole opened up. Out of it fell nine Pokémon: a Grovyle, a pink Celebi, a Dusknoir, and six Sableye. As the Dimensional Hole closed, a relentless stream of evil energy shots pelted the travelers. They collapsed where they emerged.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry for how long this one took, but I think the wait may have been worth it. This is the first dark turn in the story, and trust me, worse things are to come.**


	4. Chapter 4 - The Dark Blessing's Master

_In the last adventure, Pugno, Pelame, and Loyal faced an Outlaw who had accepted the "Dark Blessing." During the battle, the Outlaw Crobat tried to use too much of its power, causing a life-taking rebound to happen to him. Pugno and Pelame decide to seek Cresselia's help in neutralizing the "Dark Blessing" before things get any worse than they are now._

* * *

Chapter 4 – The Progenitor of the "Dark Blessing"

* * *

"Look at all of these Pokémon," said a human-like figure. "Playing games, having fun. How disheartening to see that _this_ is what the world became."

The figure tossed evil energy around aimlessly as she continued down the Boiling Forest path.

"The world needs to know pain once more." She turned to a scared Staravia and handed him a note. "And if this note doesn't reach Treasure Town by the time the Exploration Teams disperse to their jobs, you'll be short one family," she threatened, holding up three Starlies by energy threads coming from her fingers tied around their necks. "Get going, and I promise your children will be safe."

"Understood," said the Staravia, leaving on his errand.

The figure turned to the three scared Starly children. "Don't worry about your father. He'll be fine, until he reaches his destination. Good thing, too, since he'll be spared the sight of your deaths."

With that, she shot an evil laser out of her right index finger through all three of them at once. With the sound of a laser and a gunshot going off simultaneously, the three Starly children died instantly.

* * *

From their beds in Sharpedo Bluff, Pugno and Pelame woke up, and started thinking about their new mission. Unfortunately, since Cresselia was a wanderer, they didn't know where to begin looking for her.

"How about here?" Pelame suggested, pointing at the Dark Crater's spot on the Wonder Map. "That's where we fought Darkrai. It's a natural paradise for evil."

"Or, if not there, then here," Pugno said, pointing at Mount Travail's on the map. "Plenty of strong Pokémon live there, and the 'Dark Blessing' likely flocks to strong Pokémon like them. After all, it tracked down that Crobat."

"We should report to the Guild," Pelame said. "We should give them a rough idea of where to track Cresselia down. She should be anywhere the 'Dark Blessing' strikes."

* * *

In the Guild's audience room on the second subfloor, Grovyle and Celebi had just finished explaining their situation to the Guild and to Cresselia. The three of them had also offered their help to the Guild's effort to stop the "Dark Blessing."

"This is great!" Loyal said, overjoyed. "The 'Dark Blessing' will be history in no time at all with their help!"

"Fortunately," Cresselia said. "The 'Dark Blessing' is easy to track. I can feel its power no matter where I am."

"It's as though it's everywhere we go," Grovyle said. "I just wonder what it's trying to do."

"I wonder if it has anything to do with the creature that destroyed our world," Celebi said. "It may be the exact same power."

"And you have to fall back on some stranger's help just to win?" Sneasel taunted from the back of the room. "Explorers have sunk to a new low."

"Just ignore her," Chatot advised to the visitors. "She's the bratty sister of one of our members. She's been hassling us about our jobs for a long time."

"No one knows what her problem is," Sunflora said.

"Anyway," Cresselia continued. "The 'Dark Blessing' appears to seek out strong Pokémon, or Pokémon with weak will. From what I've heard of the events recently, that appears to be the case."

"That makes sense, then," Chatot said. "I know some places where frighteningly strong Pokémon gather. Everyone get your Wonder Maps out."

The Guild crew did as told.

"Chatot and I have experiences the dangers of these places before," Guildmaster Wigglytuff said. "The 'Dark Blessing' could very well strike here." He pointed at Mount Travail. "Or here." At that, he pointed at Power Cave.

"Power Cave?" Chatot asked. "Isn't that place off-limits to Explorers who are below the Hyper Rank?"

"The Exploration Team Federation has authorized members of the Guild to enter that area," Guildmaster Wigglytuff said.

"Then that's where I'll go," Loyal said. "Grovyle, Pugno, and Pelame can come with me."

"Excellent," Chatot said. "The rest of you go where you please. Now, LET'S GET TO WORK!"

"HOORAY!" shouted the Guild crew, except for Sneasel, who shouted, "Heroo."

* * *

Pugno and Pelame were on their way to the Guild to present their suggestions. On the crossroads, they met up with some Pokémon they never thought they'd see again: Grovyle, Celebi, Dusknoir, and the Sableye soldiers. The latter few they weren't happy to see.

"Excuse me, Grovyle," Pelame said. "Come with us for a moment."

"You too, Celebi," Pugno said. They both led the two into the Spinda Café.

* * *

Once the four had taken their seats, Pelame popped the question.

"What in the world are you two doing with Dusknoir and his lackeys?!" she demanded. "Did you forget they're the enemies?!"

"Sorry to sound rude," Pugno said. "But Pelame has a point. After two years missing you two, we find you two like this."

"Don't worry," Grovyle said. "There's an explanation for all of this."

"Well, start by saying why you've all come back here," Pelame said. "By the way, it's good to see you again. Don't get me wrong."

"Good to see you, too," Grovyle said. "As for why we're back, it's because our world, that is, the future, fell victim to a disaster."

"The planet didn't get paralyzed again?" Pugno asked, concerned.

"No, even worse," Celebi said. "Paralysis is a gift compared to what actually happened. Better a paralyzed planet than no planet at all."

"No planet at all?" Pelame asked, horrified. "Something outright destroyed your world?"

"Exactly," Grovyle said. "We all escaped just before the planet collapsed, but the creature responsible for the destruction attacked us. The attack reached us just as we exited the Passage of Time, while the attacker remained in the future to complete the destruction."

"Cresselia found us in the Mystifying Forest where we landed," Celebi said. "She sheltered us and then led us here to Treasure Town."

"Wait, Cresselia is here?" Pugno asked. "We need to see her!"

"She's at the Guild right now, preparing to accompany Wigglytuff and Chatot to Power Cave," Grovyle said. "They think that place is a target of the 'Dark Blessing.' Celebi, Loyal, and I were also planning to accompany them. And as for Dusknoir; I advised him to stay behind for the time being, since he may likely not be trusted by the others."

"Good choice," Pelame said. "And speaking of whom, start talking about why he's here now."

"Very well," Grovyle said. "It happened when I took him back to the future with me during our quest at the Hidden Land. While we were there, the Sableye soldiers started hunting both of us down since Primal Dialga had been notified of Dusknoir's failure. We both partnered up to defeat Primal Dialga in order to keep him from interfering with you two while you scaled Temporal Tower. Though Dusknoir seemed to be using me at first, he soon came to understand my motivation and will. My trust in him reached him, and he joined up with me and Celebi for real. Together, we reached the top of the Vast Ice Mountain and defeated Primal Dialga just as you two placed the Time Gears in the Tower and put time back to normal."

"We had heard from Arceus that you and the others hadn't disappeared from history," Pelame said. "I'm glad to see that he was right."

"He was the one who spared us," Celebi said. "He spared me, Grovie here, Dusknoir, and the Sableye soldiers so we could rebuild the world."

"And just when we finished," Grovyle said. "That was when it happened. That creature attacked and destroyed the planet. It probably even destroyed the whole world, which is why we returned here. Not only was there nowhere else to go, but there may be a chance to prevent that disaster from happening."

"Just like when we came back here to keep time from stopping," Pugno said. "But now, even more is at stake."

"Which is why we should get going soon," Celebi said. "The sooner this 'Dark Blessing' is stopped, the sooner we can focus on stopping the planet's complete destruction."

"Wait a minute," Pelame said, stopping the others on their way out of the café. "Dusknoir really isn't coming with us?"

"Not at this time," Grovyle said.

"Good," Pelame said. "I don't trust him. Someday, I'll give him a chance to show me if he's really changed for the better. But today isn't that day, so please tell him to stay away from me until then!"

"Whatever you say," Celebi sighed. "Can we go now?"

* * *

On the crossroads, the group was stopped by a Staravia carrying a note. While Pugno, Pelame, and Celebi read it, Dusknoir took that time to question Grovyle, away from Pugno, Pelame, and Celebi.

"Why did you leave out the part about my plan?" he asked, having overheard the entire conversation in the Café.

"If I did that…," Grovyle said. "…if I were to have told them about what you tried to do, then they would have been inclined to never ever give you the time of day. If they knew about that, then they'd never allow you to show them that you're on our side now."

"One way or another, they're going to know about it," Dusknoir said. "There's no keeping a secret that big from your friends."

"I know that," Grovyle said. "I'm hoping that will be after they're convinced. Until then, don't mention it near them. With this 'Dark Blessing' on the loose, the last thing they need is another conflict of interest."

"Fine then," Dusknoir said. "I'm not at all supportive of that decision, but for your sake, I will."

Just then, Pelame went back to fetch Grovyle, having decided on their course of action. She made a special effort not to even look at Dusknoir while doing so. The four went back up to the Guild to meet with Cresselia.

"Lord Dusknoir," said a Sableye. "She should come to her senses sometime."

"She's just being rightfully cautious," Dusknoir said. "That's different from being unreasonable."

* * *

In the Guildmaster's Chamber, a new plan was being put together.

"I got this note from a Staravia that was visiting," Pelame said. She read the note aloud.

"_To the founders of Team Space-Time,_

_ There is a special mission in the Boiling Forest just for you. The Dark Blessing has decided to rest there, and it wishes to see you. Be warned, however. The Dark Blessing is not happy with either of you, so if you accept this mission, don't expect your chances of returning alive to be too good. If you accept this mission, you'd best prepare for the worst._

_Sincerely,  
The one who will soon be your mortal enemy"_

"Pelame and I are going to the Boiling Forest," Pugno said.

"WHAT?! REALLY?!" Chatot squawked loudly. "Even though the writer of that note, who explicitly called itself your mortal enemy, and also basically threatened to kill you both, you're going to take on this job?!"

"Yes, Chatot," Pelame said. "Better there than here, where there's lots of Pokémon to corrupt or kill."

"I'll go with them to keep them safe," Cresselia said. "The three of us should at least stand a fighting chance against the 'Dark Blessing' together."

"Which means I'll be going with the Guildmaster, Chatot, Grovyle, and Celebi," Loyal said. "The Pokémon there will be a challenge, but we should be fine."

"Talk about counter-intuition," Sneasel said. "Send the small group after the 'Dark Blessing' itself, and send the larger group to some place to do reconnaissance. Were you all _born_ stupid?"

"Cresselia is all we need to properly fight the 'Dark Blessing,'" Pugno said. "She can banish darkness."

"You're not getting it at all," Sneasel said. "I can't believe I'm doing this, but I'm going with you three." She pointed at Pugno, Pelame, and Cresselia. "You three could use some brains on your team, and I've got one."

"Please don't do anything reckless," Pelame said. "We'll let you come with us, but you have to keep yourself in check."

"No problem at all," Sneasel said. "I'll just save my wisecracks until _after_ you get your hides kicked."

"Then we've got a plan," Chatot said. "Pugno, Pelame, Cresselia, and Sneasel will go to the Boiling Forest to confront the 'Dark Blessing.' The Guildmaster, Loyal, Grovyle, and Celebi will be going with me to Power Cave."

"Then let's get going," Celebi said. "Good luck to you all."

"You too, Celebi, and the rest of you," Pelame said.

"And you keep my sister safe, get it?!" Sneasel roared at Loyal's group.

"Got it," Celebi said.

"GOOD!" Sneasel shouted.

* * *

Per the note's instructions, Pugno's party arrived at the Boiling Forest located on a previously uncharted area of the map, east of Treasure Town. It was named such as a result of its humid climate and its abundant ponds of boiling water. In such conditions, it was hard to breathe, but the group persevered.

They soon heard a cry of panic coming from deeper in the woods. When they arrived at the area where it came from, they found the Staravia who gave them the note.

"Get away from here!" he said, completely panicking. "She's crazy! She's deadly! She's—"

Before he could finish, the simultaneous sound of a laser and a gunshot was heard, and a laser of evil energy killed the Staravia where he stood. From behind him came forth a creature. It looked unmistakably like an elderly human. She stood with a slouch, and she had a satisfied look on her face.

"I hate it when Pokémon live," she said. "They're so much better dead. Don't you agree?"

The group was horrified to hear those words, as well as the sight of a cold-blooded murder happening in front of them. Pelame was the most horrified of them all, since she recognized the person's voice.

"You," Pelame started. "You broke into my mind and entered my dream. You were at the beach. It was YOU ALL ALONG! You're the 'Dark Blessing!'"

Everyone looked at Pelame, stunned.

"Well, maybe," the person said. "The Dark Blessing is just my method of communication with the world. It can function on its own, but it prefers to mess with life forms like yourselves. Pelame, you've gained its favor."

Pelame couldn't move. It was like the beach incident all over again, minus the cold. The person approached Pelame and knelt down to look her in the eye.

"The same can't be said for me," she said. "You're too much trouble for me to allow to live a moment longer. You'll only mess things up for me, like you ruined everything for Primal Dialga and Darkrai before me."

"Wait, how do you know about that?" Pugno asked. The person didn't acknowledge Pugno's question. She formed the "K" sign with her right hand and pointed to Pelame's face, almost poking her nose.

"Nice meeting you," she crooned, preparing a laser blast.

Pelame couldn't move, despite the peril she was in. Fear seemed to conspire to have her killed by this new enemy.

An Aura Sphere thrown at the person's hand by Pugno spared Pelame an early grave. Unfortunately, she instantaneously tossed it back and hit him directly with it. The force of the rebounded move was overwhelming.

_That was a Demon-type attack,_ Pugno thought to himself. _Did she just transform my Aura Sphere into that?_

"Iron Tail!" Pelame shouted, finding the courage to move again. The person simply stood to the side to dodge it, and then countered with a stream of energy coming from her right wrist above the back of her hand, which she used as a whip. Pelame couldn't escape it. It felt as though she was hit by about twenty Vine Whips at once, but since this was a Demon-type move, it hurt like a super-effective move.

"Ice Beam!" Sneasel shouted, launching an attack that did nothing to the assailant.

She then turned to Sneasel and cast her whip toward her, catching her by the neck. She tightened the whip's grip, effectively strangling Sneasel. She tried slicing the whip with her Slash attack, but to no avail. Fortunately, a Psychic attack from Cresselia saved Sneasel from suffocating.

In response to this, the person opened a Dimensional Hole right on top of Cresselia and warped her away from the battle. She then continued her assault by catching Pugno by the neck with evil threads coming out of her fingers. She then pulled him toward herself and kicked him in the face. Pelame then used Crunch on the thread, severing them.

Suddenly, the assailant unleashed a move that did something strange to the three remaining Teammates. After the world went dark for a split-second, the Teammates felt as though they had suffered every single status ailment simultaneously.

"I sincerely wish I could finish you off myself," the assailant said. "Especially since my Lethargy move left you like this, prime for killing. But I have an appointment at Power Cave."

"Who…are you?" Pelame asked with what remaining energy she had left. "What are you?"

"I am what this world needs to be the way it once was," said the person. "If it's a name you want, settle for Unod, the World Destroyer."

"What…is the meaning…of what you're doing?" Pugno stammered.

"None of your business," Unod said. "I've arranged for your deaths already. It was a pleasure meeting you all." With that, she left.

At that moment, a bunch of the local Pokémon came and abducted the three Explorers, as they fell asleep as a result of the Lethargy attack they were hit by earlier.

"Loyal…" Sneasel said, drifting off. "Someone…help…"

* * *

Guildmaster Wigglytuff, Chatot, Grovyle, Celebi, and Loyal hadn't made it too far into the cave before encountering trouble. Trouble struck them in a round room in the cave. Unod arrived as she had promised Pugno's team. She banished Wigglytuff, Chatot, and Celebi away from the cave with a Dimensional Hole just as she did with Cresselia earlier.

"So you followed us after all," Grovyle said, recognizing Unod's power.

"Followed?" Unod said. "I'm only first meeting you, but I already hate you."

Immediately, she launched a blast of evil fire at Grovyle. Loyal launched an Ice Beam at Unod, which got rebounded back at her. She started teleporting in a zigzag pattern around Grovyle, never holding still.

Before Grovyle could do anything, he suddenly lost the ability to move. He was now suspended by evil threads, effectively becoming a living puppet.

"Too bad, Loyal," Grovyle said as a result of Unod speaking through him. "You're going to become a dead body."

Loyal tried to slice the threads controlling Grovyle, to no avail. Her claws were as effective against the threads as wood was against metal.

"Loyal, get away from here!" Grovyle said, momentarily regaining his free will. Loyal was stopped in her tracks when Unod unleashed a move that paralyzed her and suspended her in the air with her arms splayed to her sides as if she was being crucified.

"Grovyle," Unod said. "Use Leaf Blade."

"Never!" Grovyle shouted.

"You leave him alone!" Loyal shouted.

"That was no request, Grovyle," Unod crooned. Grovyle soon unleashed his Leaf Blades against his will and began slicing at Loyal.

"Stop it! Leave her alone!" Grovyle shouted as he kept attacking Loyal under Unod's control.

"Shouldn't have trusted me at all, you little nothing," Unod said through Grovyle's mouth.

"Grovyle…" Loyal said. "Tell my sister…that…I love her."

"I will, Loyal," Grovyle said. Under Unod's control, he finished Loyal off. Unod then released her control over him.

"It was her own fault for trusting you, Grovie," Unod said, using Celebi's pet name for him as an insult. "That's why it's a fatal mistake for _any_ living thing to call you a friend. You're dangerous to all you know."

Loyal's body caught fire. In a few seconds, the pitch-black flames destroyed her body, not even leaving ashes behind.

"For those rare times I don't feel like keeping a body," Unod said. "My Pyreflame takes care of that problem. But at least you now have nothing to remember your friend by, you little murderer."

"You're the murderer," Grovyle growled. "LEAF BLADE!"

Unfortunately, Grovyle's attempt to avenge Loyal was responded to by Unod catching him with her energy whip. She spun him around the room and threw him toward the wall. She then teleported to where he would have landed and kick him back. And then she teleported behind him and then kicked him in the rear end. She finished by pelting him with energy orbs at point-blank range.

"You…monster…" Grovyle muttered.

Unod tied him up with evil threads and blasted him with a Silence Orb. She then used the threads to sew his mouth shut.

"I had lots of fun with you, Grovyle," Unod taunted. "Have fun dying." At that, she blasted him with one last shot. As she teleported away, Grovyle found himself surrounded by the Power Cave's residents. Tied up, gagged, and beaten to a pulp, he was completely helpless.

_I'm sorry, Loyal,_ Grovyle thought to himself. _Sneasel, please, forgive me._


	5. Chapter 5 - Depravity

_In Team Space-Time's last adventure, Pugno and Pelame received a note from a Staravia, goading them to a showdown with the "Dark Blessing" at the Boiling Forest. Guildmaster Wigglytuff took a group to Power Cave for investigation. Trouble struck both groups, whose members have been separated. Now Pugno, Pelame, Sneasel, and Grovyle face certain peril._

* * *

Chapter 5 – Depravity

* * *

Pugno, Pelame, and Sneasel woke up, finding themselves locked in a coffin. With them, a young Meowth was there.

"Wait a sec," said the young Meowth. "Aren't you the Sneasel who saved my life in that cave at the Treasure Town beach?"

"No, that was my older sister," Sneasel said. "I hope she's okay. If anything happened to her,…"

Pugno and Pelame were very surprised to hear Sneasel talk like this. She had never said anything other than rude wisecracks before now.

"Now that we're going to die, I guess it doesn't matter that you know now. The reason I don't like Exploration Teams is because I had always feared that my sister would join one. I've heard of how dangerous the job is. Explorers have even died on the job, or even worse, like that Scizor you two rescued some time ago. And I feared that if my sister ever joined an Exploration Team, she'd die."

"You really do love her," Pelame said. "I knew you did."

"Of course I love her!" Sneasel snapped, starting to tear up. "If anything happens to her, I *sniff* I don't know what I'd do. But at least it's me who will die instead of her."

Pugno and Pelame had been frequently annoyed by Sneasel before, but now, they truly felt pity for her. Pelame tried her best to comfort her.

"Don't talk like that," she said. "We'll get out of here somehow, and we'll see Loyal again."

"What do you mean, 'we'll get out of here?'" asked the young Meowth. "There's no escape. That weird creature captured me and a Ditto, which she forced to transform into me to fool my parents. My parents arranged a mob to have us all executed, since that creature lied to them, saying you two abducted me, when it was really her."

"Executed?" Pugno asked. "Unod arranged all of this?!"

"Yes," Meowth said. "My parents don't even know I'm in here, too. That creature—Unod, you said her name was?—lied to all of them. And even worse, she's going to blow up the entire forest after we're killed!"

Pelame was now shaking. Not out of fear, or cold, but fury. Of all the injustices of the world that she faced, this took the cake.

"Of all the evil we've faced," Pelame seethed. "Of all the trouble we've experienced, Unod is the WORST OUT OF ALL OF THEM! To think that a wonderful Pokémon like you, Pugno, was once the same species as that…that…_absolute_ **_MONSTER!"_**

Pelame started attacking the sides of the coffin with her Iron Tail attack.

"Come on, help me out!" Pelame ordered.

Just then, the three felt as though something lifted the coffin up.

"They're transporting us to the execution spot," Meowth said. "They're going to drop this coffin into one of the boiling water ponds, where we'll either drown, or be cooked to death."

"In that case, we need to break out, and fast," Pugno said. "Force Palm!" He joined Pelame in attacking the sides of the coffin.

From outside the coffin, the local Pokémon were setting the coffin up to be dropped in the boiling pond. A gallows was used to suspend the coffin over the water, and an Ambipom stood on top of the gallows, serving as the executioner who would slice the rope suspending the coffin.

* * *

Grovyle was completely at the mercy of the Pokémon surrounding him. An Ursaring, Aggron, Persian, Weavile, and a Gengar got ready to attack. And as he was tied up, gagged, and beaten, there was nothing he could do but resign to his fate. He felt as though he deserved it for having his body used to murder Loyal in cold blood.

"Light Screen!" shouted a Pokémon from the sidelines. "Reflect!"

The interloper revealed himself to be Drowzee, who had come to the Power Cave for meditation, only to find a macabre scene unfolding in front of him. Thanks to him, Grovyle was spared. The attacks of the local Pokémon couldn't faze the shield Drowzee had put up. Drowzee then retrieved Grovyle and fled the cave with him in tow.

They settled at a field near the Treasure Town crossroads. When Drowzee tried to untie Grovyle, Grovyle seized up as if something squeezed him. As it turned out, the threads got tighter as a result, as did the ones keeping his mouth shut when he grunted. Drowzee was about to try again until Grovyle rolled away from him and shook his head to say "no." Unfortunately, Drowzee didn't get the hint.

"What's going on?" he asked. "Why don't you want to be untied?" Another attempt to untie Grovyle made it clear to him. "I've never seen anything like this. A String Shot that tightens its hold when something resists it? That's sadistic!"

Drowzee used his Psychic power to lift Grovyle off the ground.

"I'll take you to Treasure Town," he said to Grovyle. "I know a few Pokémon there who can help you."

* * *

"Wait, was that glass I heard?" Pugno asked just as bits of a broken Silence Orb fell on him.

"I think I just broke a Silence Orb!" Pelame said.

"What was a Silence Orb doing in here?" Meowth asked.

From outside the coffin, the executioner Ambipom got ready to slice the rope. Suddenly, a Persian spoke up.

"Wait!" she said. "My son's in there!" Upon hearing that, the Meowth standing next to her turned back into a Ditto.

The announcement came too late, as the executioner had already cut the rope, sending the coffin falling into the boiling water. Luckily, he acted fast and caught the rope before the coffin hit the water. However, since the coffin was significantly weakened from within, the door flung open, sending the four Pokémon hurtling out of it. Pugno caught the side of the coffin and held on for dear life as he also caught Sneasel, who caught Pelame by the tail, and Pelame caught Meowth by the tail with her teeth. To make matters even worse, the rope was weakening in Ambipom's grip.

"Pelame, toss Meowth to the shore!" Pugno ordered. "I'll swing us forward so you can toss him forward!"

"Ohhay," Pelame said, finding it hard to speak with a Meowth's tail in her mouth.

After gaining some momentum, Pugno swung Sneasel and Pelame forward, and Pelame released Meowth's tail, tossing him safely to the crowd. Pugno, Pelame, and Sneasel then climbed up the coffin and made it to the top of the gallows. The rope broke, but Sneasel caught Ambipom before he could fall into the water. Eventually, they safely got back to the shore.

"Thank you so much," Persian said, nuzzling her son. "You saved my child's life."

"You're welcome," Pelame said.

"And I'm also very sorry for trying to get you killed. That creature fooled me completely."

"Speaking of which, her name is Unod."

"And she's coming back to destroy the forest," Pugno added.

"She WHAT?!" Ditto shouted. "She told me that she wouldn't destroy the forest if I fooled Persian and went along with her plan. She promised! She looked me right in the eyes, smiling, and she lied to me!"

"In that case, we need to leave immediately!" Persian said. She then addressed the crowd. "Everyone, please listen! This Eevee, Riolu, and Sneasel are completely innocent. The creature who claimed to have found my son is named Unod, and she lied to me in an attempt to have these three killed. In addition to that, my son, as you saw, was in that coffin we tossed them into. He was hidden by her magic so she could hire this poor Ditto to act like my son. And this Ditto only acted the part because he thought it would keep Unod from destroying this forest, which is also a lie! We need to leave immediately before she returns!"

"We'll lead you all to a safe place!" Sneasel said. "There's a town near here that has room for you all! Follow us and we'll lead you to safety!"

The crowd cheered, relieved that an evil human's plan had been utterly foiled.

"Great speech, Miss Persian," Pelame said. "And you too, Sneasel." Pelame turned to the crowd. "Okay everyone! Follow us!"

The crowd did as told, and soon, they were out of the woods.

* * *

"But we're not a lodging establishment!" Spinda said. "We're just a café. We can't accommodate all of these Pokémon!"

"We'll help," Pugno said. "We'll do jobs around here so you can accommodate them until it's safe for them to leave."

"I don't know," Spinda said. "But I guess I can try. It's gonna be lots and _lots_ of work, though."

"Excuse me," someone announced from the café's entrance. "The Guild was empty, but I see lots of Pokémon in here. I have someone here who needs help and fast!"

It was Drowzee who requested help. He entered with Grovyle in tow. He spotted Pugno and Pelame and went straight to them.

"Long time, no see," Pugno said. "How have you been?"

"I've been great," Drowzee said. "I've seen the world many times over. But I came across this poor Pokémon at the Power Cave."

"That's where that creature was!" Chatot said. "It teleported us back here when we tried to fend it off!"

Pelame stepped forward and severed the threads with her teeth, completely freeing Grovyle.

"Those threads were made of pure darkness," Cresselia said. "How is it Pelame was able to sever them? I thought I was the only one with the power to repel darkness. Is she developing some new abilities?"

However, though Grovyle's mouth wasn't sewn shut anymore, he still wasn't able to open it. Celebi flew up to him.

"Heal Bell," she said. A soft ringing sound filled the room, and Grovyle was able to speak again.

"Thanks, Celebi," he said. "That creature must have used her evil power to make the effect of that Silence Orb last longer than normal."

"I see Unod attacked you, too," Pugno said. "She tried to get these villagers here to execute us. She arranged for them to execute us, and this Meowth right here. We moved them all here to get them safely away from the Boiling Forest before Unod returned to destroy it."

"That creature has a name?" Chatot asked.

"Yes," Pelame said. "She calls herself Unod the World Destroyer."

"She's the most depraved creature I've ever met," Grovyle seethed. "Because of her—"

"SIS!" Sneasel suddenly shouted, having searched the whole café for Loyal to no avail. "SIS! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

Hearing Sneasel's frantic cries for her sister broke his heart instantly.

"Grovie, what's wrong?" Celebi asked. "Why do you look so sad all of a sudden?"

"She was with you last time I saw her!" Sneasel said. "Where is she?! Why isn't she here?!"

"Sneasel," Grovyle started. "Your sister wanted you to know…she loves you. She wanted me to tell you that."

Sneasel knew immediately what had happened.

"No… she…" Sneasel stammered, her hopes for her sister's survival crushed completely. "She can't be…" Unable to take any more, Sneasel fled the café in tears.

"Loyal's dead?" Pelame asked, though she already knew the answer.

"Yes, she is," Grovyle confirmed sullenly. "Unod took control of my body. She used those evil threads to control me like a marionette, and she forced me to kill Loyal with my own Leaf Blade attack. I couldn't do anything to fight back. That was when she told me to tell Sneasel how much she loved her."

"Okay, that little BRAT may be annoying," Loudred shouted. "But she did NOT deserve this! This Unod creature has to PAY for that!"

"I know," Chatot said. "But we can't do anything rash, or the same could happen to us! This Unod character sounds like she's a capable fighter and a master manipulator! She sounds like she's a better manipulator than that Dusknoir was!"

"But we have to do something!" Sunflora said. "Unod can't be allowed to go blowing up whatever she wants and killing whoever she wants!"

"I know!" Chatot said. "But we'll have to get on that tomorrow. For now, we need to focus on sheltering these refugees."

* * *

Sneasel had run off crying to the beach. Her fear had come true. Her sister had joined an Exploration Team and died for her choice. On the sand, she collapsed and wailed.

Just then, Unod approached her.

"W-what do you want?" Sneasel asked.

"I fully sympathize with your plight," Unod answered. "Your sister really was a kind Pokémon. You were very lucky to have her in your life."

"You tried to get me and two of my friends killed," Sneasel said. "How much pain and suffering will satisfy you?!"

"That's none of your concern," Unod said. "But what may be of interest to you is an opportunity to avenge your sister. And no, attacking me isn't how you will be able to go about it. How can it when I'm not even the guilty party?"

"What do you mean by that?" Sneasel asked, getting mixed up.

"Grovyle was the one you trusted with Loyal's safety," Unod said. "He betrayed your trust since he wasn't able to protect her after all. Of course, it's obviously impossible to protect someone from themselves."

"What does that mean?"

"Grovyle went berserk. I didn't go to the Power Cave to kill your sister. I went there to save her by killing everyone else in there. Unfortunately, Loyal was already killed by Grovyle's Leaf Blade when I reached them."

"Are you expecting me to believe that?!"

"Yes. The truth cannot be denied."

At that moment, a black tendril came out of Unod's right arm and its mouth bit Sneasel's head. As its tongue went into her mind, she saw an image of Grovyle slashing Loyal to death with his Leaf Blade attack. Sneasel couldn't believe what she was seeing. The tendril then left her mind, letting her absorb what she was just shown.

"If you wish to avenge your sister, I can help you do that."

Sneasel sighed, and nodded. "Deal."

"Excellent. I knew your heart was in the right place."

Multiple black tendrils came out of Unod's right arm, biting Sneasel all over her head.

"I, Unod, the World Destroyer, welcome you, Sneasel, to my ranks! I confer upon you, my Dark Blessing! Accept it, and serve me well!"

The tendrils passed the Dark Blessing on to Sneasel. It was a painful process, but it was soon over, and she was released.

"Remember: Grovyle is to be disposed of. I have given you the means to do it in a painful way that I'm sure will satisfy you. After all, we both know how much he deserves to suffer for this."

"Yes, World Destroyer. I won't disappoint you."


	6. Chapter 6 - Setting Out to Battle

**A/N: Eight days. I'm so sorry for taking this long to get to writing this chapter. But I hope the wait was worth it.**

* * *

_In Team Space-Time's last adventure, peril was narrowly averted by all parties attacked by Unod the World Destroyer. Unfortunately, Grovyle's party lost a member, as Sneasel found out. The news shook her hard. So hard that she accepted the Dark Blessing directly from Unod herself, believing her lies._

* * *

Chapter 6 – Setting Out to Battle

* * *

In the Guild's Audience room, the Guild crew and the visitors from the future were gathered to discuss a new plan.

"First of all," Chatot said. "We need to know what she looks like. I didn't get a good look at her before she banished us from Power Cave."

"We can fill you in on that," Pugno said. Pelame and Grovyle nodded in agreement.

"I'm surprised she LET you look at her," Loudred said. "Let alone tell you her NAME while she was kicking your butts."

"She looks human," Grovyle said. "I think she actually _is_ human. She's very elderly, though that doesn't stop her from being a capable fighter."

"She has pitch-black hair," Pelame said. "She keeps it up with a hairclip that looks like a snowflake, and she has bangs hanging in front of her face."

"Her posture isn't normal, even for a human," Grovyle said. "She slouches." Grovyle slouched his own posture to demonstrate. "Like this." His demonstration was a bit too good, as he soon fell flat on his face.

After a good laugh, the descriptions continued.

"She has on an outfit unlike anything I've ever seen," Pugno said. "It's like she's wearing capes on every part of her body. It flowed like a cape would. It actually looks a bit royal how she dresses."

"A snowflake-shaped sigil was on the front and back of it," Pelame said. "It looked just like her hairclip."

"Her eyes were white," Grovyle said. "With an orange ring around the pupil."

"Her flesh was a pale shade of beige," Pugno said. "And it was really wrinkly, per her age."

"She's also wearing something really hard on her feet," Grovyle said. "It felt like metal when she kicked me."

"A very important thing to note is that the only move she telegraphs is her laser attack," Pelame said. "She points her middle finger straight to the ground as she points at her target with her index finger. And she has her thumb between her index and middle fingers as she does that. But every other one of her moves come without warning, so watch out."

"Okay," Chatot said. "We know what she looks like now. Anything else we should know, other than her unpredictable fighting style?"

"Two things," Pugno said. "You'll know you're near her when it smells like something died nearby. It also gets cold wherever she is."

"And the other things is what she sounds like," Pelame said. She then cleared her throat. "She sounds…_something like this_." She rasped her own voice in an attempt to sound like Unod. It hurt her throat to do so. She coughed a little bit and drank some water to relieve herself.

"If only that would happen to UNOD, right?" Loudred joked.

"Now we just have to find her," Celebi said. "So… how should we go about doing that?"

"We can't split up. It was disastrous when we tried that last time."

Pelame and Pugno's fur stood on end when they heard who said that.

"Every Pokémon deserves another chance," Guildmaster Wigglytuff said. "The Great Dusknoir will be coming with us to deal with Unod. After all, he's Grovyle and Celebi's friend now."

"Besides," Chatot said. "He knows a lot of things in general. He'll be a very valuable asset to us in this upcoming battle."

"Well," Pelame seethed. "I can't trust him yet. But if you want him to tag along, I won't contest that decision."

"Me neither," Pugno said. "After all, Pelame promised Grovyle that she'd give Dusknoir the time of day. I'll do the same."

"Very good," Chatot said. "Now, back to the matter at hand. Unod threatened to completely destroy the Boiling Forest. We've received word from Officer Magnezone that she made good on that threat, which is why it's a good thing Pelame and her friends got them to safety. They are now staying here…" he got out a huge Wonder Map and pointed at the Hot Springs. "…with Torkoal, the town elder. But that still leaves us with where Unod is heading."

"POKEMON DETECTED! POKEMON DETECTED!" shouted Diglett from the sentry area. "THE FOOTPRINT IS…UXIE?"

"Uxie?" Pelame asked. "The guardian of Fogbound Lake?"

"YOU MAY ENTER!" Loudred shouted. In an instant, Uxie appeared in the Audience Room.

"Uxie, are you okay?" Grovyle said.

"Yes," Uxie said. "But I couldn't save the lake. A strange creature attacked me directly, before I even had the chance to create my Groudon illusion. She was too powerful…"

"No way," Bidoof said. "Unod got you, too?"

"That's what her name is?" Uxie asked. "And how do you know her? You all weren't attacked by her, too?"

"Some of us were," Pugno said. "She tried to get me killed, along with Pelame and our new recruit Sneasel. Not to mention she almost got Grovyle killed, too."

"In fact, she took control of him and used him to kill the Sneasel's sister," Pelame said. "We haven't seen Sneasel since she found this out."

"What happened to you, though?" Dusknoir asked. "It couldn't have been your Time Gear she was after? Doesn't she know it's not there anymore?"

"No," Uxie said. "The Time Gears aren't needed anymore. They're all in Temporal Tower. She said something about 'putting the world back the way it was meant to be.' I don't know what she meant by that, and I never got a clear explanation out of her. She struck me down and destroyed the lake. She knocked it over and flooded the Foggy Forest. I saved as many Pokémon as I could by sending them to the Hot Springs near town, but not everyone made it out alive. I saw her heading toward Mount Horn, which is making me think she's on her way here to Treasure Town!"

"Well, I guess we know where to GO now," Loudred said. "We just head her off on the path we took when we went on that expedition YEARS ago."

"Wait a moment," Pelame said. "Treasure Town isn't where she's going."

Pelame walked up to the Wonder Map and pointed at Fogbound Lake.

"If she were to continue going down that path," Pelame said, tracing an imaginary line down the theoretical path Unod was taking. "It would take her to—"

Pelame backed away, horrified. As soon as she reached the end of the line, she knew what Unod was up to.

"Her target isn't Treasure Town," Pelame said. "It's Brine Cave."

"But why is that her target?" Chatot asked. "The only point of significance of that area is that it leads to the Hidden Land, so unless she has an errand there, I don't know why she…" Then Chatot realized what Pelame was getting at. "Oh dear, this isn't good!"

"So, Master Dialga is her target," Dusknoir said.

"_Master_ Dialga?" Celebi asked. "You don't need to call him that, Dusknoir."

"I know," Dusknoir said. "But Unod can't be allowed into the Hidden Land. If she's trying to destroy the world, Temporal Tower is perhaps the best place to start."

"Paralyzing the planet would make things easier for her," Grovyle said.

"But Dialga is the Deity of Time!" Uxie said. "He can't be completely destroyed!"

"She might just be able to," Celebi said. "Besides, she doesn't have to kill Dialga in order to stop time. If she destroys the Tower…"

"…Then time itself collapses," Pugno finished. "And Primal Dialga will be at her beck and call."

"And if Unod already destroyed Uxie's Lake," Sunflora said. "She could get to the Hidden Land by tonight!"

"We can't delay a moment longer!" Chatot said. "If we're going to stop her, we must leave now!"

"Then that is what we'll do!" Guildmaster Wigglytuff said. "Everyone, we're moving out! YOOOOM-TAAAH!" At the sound of the Guildmaster's Hyper Voice, everyone dispersed at once.

"Remember," Chatot said. "We're heading toward Fogbound Lake! Unod will be along the straight path from there to Treasure Town!"

As the crew left, Pelame called out to Dusknoir.

"Is there something you need?" he asked.

"The Guild's crew decided to trust you to help us," Pelame said. "And I promised Grovyle to give you a chance as well. Today will be that day, so I suggest you don't do anything that makes me think I'm right in believing that you're up to something. Because if you do, then I can't be held responsible for what I'll do to you in response. Do I make myself clear?"

"Very clear," Dusknoir said. "One way or another, you will see that Grovyle was right in trusting me."

With that, the two followed the rest of the guild crew.

* * *

By the time the crew reached the other side of Craggy Coast, they had been joined by Team Charm, Team AWD, and Team Skull.

"Never in all my life did I think I'd be on the same side as you fools," Skuntank said. "Don't think this changes anything. We just have the same foe; that's all."

"I understand," Pelame said. "You want there to be a world to mess around in. You'd never understand, but we really do appreciate the help."

"Treasures of the world belong to me, anyway," Weavile said. "If this Unod creature has her way with the world, what would there be to take?"

"Likely nothing," Zubat said.

"Yeah," Skuntank said. "She's a miserable creep."

"Preaching to the choir on that one, stinky," Weavile said.

"It says something about this creature that even you two," Lopunny mused. "Who lead unethical Teams despise her and think she's cruel."

"Yeah," Chatot said. "Hatred of Unod appears to be bringing us close together."

"Very funny," Weavile said. "I'll never call myself friends with any of you."

"Seconded," Skuntank said. "As soon as we give Unod what she deserves, we're going back to the status quo."

"Speaking of whom," Pelame said. "We should be getting close. It's getting a bit cold."

The party braced themselves for the impending arrival of their foe.

"What took you all so long?"

* * *

**A/N: Sorry again for taking forever getting this one up. I hope it was worth the wait.**

**By the way, here are some explanations of a few things: when Pugno is talking about Unod's clothing, he's describing an outfit resembling royal robes (a lot like a royal Kimono, but not completely like one). And when Pelame is describing Unod's laser attack, she mentions a particular gesture. When Unod uses her laser attack, her hand is in the form of the letter "K" as said in American Sign Language, but there's no way a Pokémon would know that.**

**With that said, look forward to the next chapter!**


	7. Chapter 7 - Team Space-Time's Demise

_In Team Space-Time's last adventure, Pelame intuitively deduced Unod's plan. With an unintentional clue from Uxie, whose Lake was destroyed earlier that day, Pelame figured out that Unod was making her way to the Hidden Land with the intention of destroying time itself. The Guild Crew, joined by Grovyle's team, Team Space-Time, Team Skull, Team AWD, and Team Charm, all left to confront Unod before such a thing could happen._

* * *

Chapter 7 – Team Space-Time's Demise

* * *

"I said what took you so long?!"

The entire group was surprised, but relieved.

"Sneasel!" Pelame said. "We haven't seen you since last night! Where were you?"

"We were worried sick!" Pugno added. "What happened?"

"I left ahead of all of you," Sneasel said. "But I knew you'd catch up. So, Unod should be coming, right?"

"Actually," Gardevoir said. "The plan is to go to _her_. She should be along the straight path from Fogbound Lake to Treasure Town."

"This point is directly in the middle of the two," Chatot said. "She can't be too far ahead, so be ready, if you're joining us."

"Of course I'm joining!" Sneasel said.

"Perfect," Koffing said. "Then get over here!"

"Don't tell me what to do, gas cloud," Sneasel said.

* * *

At Mount Horn, things were getting even colder, telling the crew what would be coming up ahead.

"She's close," Cresselia said. "Her power resonates all over the mountain."

Everyone was prepared as they continued their way up the mountain.

"Dusknoir, may I ask you something?" Pelame asked.

"I'm listening," Dusknoir said, surprised that Pelame was actually speaking to him.

"Why were you the way you were before? The Guildmaster says that there's no such thing as pure evil, so why were you once the closest thing to it?"

"It's simple, but it's no excuse. I feared disappearing from history. More than that, I feared death."

For as much as Pelame still hated Dusknoir, this was the first time she was interested in what he had to say.

"Master—Primal Dialga, as you know, was only concerned with self-preservation. I was much like him in that regard. Once I became his servant, I was not to do anything to make him think I was resisting his ways. I would either disappear from history if you and your friends saved Temporal Tower in this era, or I would be executed by Primal Dialga himself. Doing the things I did was the only way I could stay alive, which was what I wanted above all else. Though I knew there would be no such thing as immortality to me, I guess I just wasn't able to accept that as a fact. Though Ghost-types like myself don't die naturally, they're not totally immortal, wither. So I decided I'd do anything to live as long as I could. But I made all the wrong choices to do so."

Pelame was starting to understand Dusknoir now.

"It's thanks to Grovyle that I finally saw that mindless servitude to Primal Dialga wasn't truly living. Now, I think I was living a life that wasn't my own. Grovyle is the reason for my living a life that truly is my own."

"I see," Pelame said. "It must have been miserable working for Primal Dialga. He made you do such horrible things. He could very well have ruined your life. I never knew how hard you had it before, but I'm now starting to see that you really have changed for the better."

At that, Grovyle and Celebi perked up in unison.

"Now that I know that truly living is doing something that will matter to the world, I decided to assist all of you in preserving the world as we know it. Unod may be powerful, but she's not invincible."

"Not invincible? Excellent assumption. Now, let me prove you wrong!"

Everyone turned in time to see a large evil energy ball flying toward them.

"Protect!" Cresselia shouted. A protective field of light surrounded the group, shielding them from the ambush. The force was still enough to knock them all back. Dusknoir caught Pelame just as she started to fall off the mountain. Unfortunately, Unod appeared right behind Dusknoir as he was busy with the rescue.

"Drop her," Unod said. "It'll be charity for the world."

Before either Dusknoir or Unod could respond, Celebi came to their rescue.

"Ancient Power!" she shouted, nailing Unod in the head with one of the rocks.

"Leaf Blade!" Grovyle shouted, lunging blades-first at Unod. To everyone's surprise, Unod blocked the Leaf Blades with a weapon she just now appeared to have.

"What the—" said a Sableye. "Since when did Unod have a lance?"

"That lance is her left arm!" Medicham said.

With blades locked, Grovyle started to push Unod toward the edge of the cliff, leaving him unprepared for what came next. He felt as though something was electrocuting him, a suspicion that Unod proved right by pushing him back and striking him directly with a malevolent electrical discharge. He was instantly paralyzed by the direct hit.

"I guess it was a mistake to leave wild Pokémon in charge of you," Unod taunted. "Despite that, you're going to stop living immediately."

Unod lunged lance-first at Grovyle. Being paralyzed prevented him from being able to dodge the attack. Fortunately, Dusknoir came to his rescue with an Ice Punch hitting Unod directly in her face.

"YOOM-TAAAH!" shouted Guildmaster Wigglytuff as he launched a Hyper Voice at Unod.

Unod reacted by letting it hit her right index finger, which she then pointed at Dusknoir. She then blasted him point-blank with the Guildmaster's very own Hyper Voice attack.

"How in the world did she do THAT?!" Loudred asked.

"Normal-type moves shouldn't even work on Ghost-types!" Lopunny said.

"And yet," Gardevoir said. "When she deflected Wigglytuff's Hyper Voice at Dusknoir, it worked as if it were something he's weak against."

"Demon-type!" Pelame said. "Unod didn't just deflect the Guildmaster's attack. She absorbed it, converted it to a Demon-type attack, and then blasted Dusknoir with it!"

"You waste your time observing such details," Unod taunted.

"Heal Bell!" Celebi shouted.

"No you don't!" Unod countered, striking Celebi with her energy whip before the Heal Bell could go off. The whip struck Celebi between her wings, effectively sending her to the ground. Unod teleported beneath her and caught her as she fell.

"Too bad," Unod said. "You've all condemned this little pixie to an untimely death. I guess that's what she gets for knowing you." She looked toward Grovyle. "First Loyal, and now Celebi. And before you could even have a first night out!"

Unod tightened her grip on Celebi's head.

"That's enough!" Dusknoir shouted, throwing a Dark Pulse at Unod. She caught it in the same way she did Wigglytuff's Hyper Voice earlier. She then put her index finger in Celebi's mouth.

"Skull Bash!" Pelame shouted. As she charged at Unod, a white aura surrounded her. She hit Unod directly with her attack. The absorbed Dark Pulse was shot harmlessly into the sky as a result. Pugno dove forward and caught Celebi.

"Thanks, Pugno," Celebi said. "I would've been a goner."

"What do you mean '_would've been_?'" Unod taunted. "YOU'RE ALL GONERS!"

The entire mountain started to shake under Unod's power. An evil aura surrounded her. Part of the aura shot toward the peak of the mountain, slicing it off and then lifting it. Unod then flew up to it and tossed it at everyone below. Before it could connect, a glowing white force field surrounded the Pokémon. It appeared to be emanating from Pelame. The field held strong as the peak collided with it and crumbled.

"Pelame, how are you doing that?" Celebi asked.

"I don't know," Pelame answered. "But didn't I show this power earlier when I saved Celebi? My kind shouldn't even be able to know the Skull Bash attack!"

When the dust cleared, Unod caught a glimpse of the field just as it faded.

_"Pelame,"_ she thought. _"Where is her abnormal power coming from? She must be this generation's part of the Alpha Bloodline!"_

"So, Pugno," Unod said. "How do you like being deprived of the Dimensional Scream?"

Everyone was confused at this query.

"I'm not surprised you missed it, since you haven't used it in years. Still, I was happy to take it off your hands for you!"

_"She can…steal power from her…opponents?!"_ Grovyle thought. _"And she stole Pugno's Dimensional Scream ability!"_

"But it's your lives I really want, of course," Unod continued. "You all disgust me by your daring to think you deserve your lives. You don't!"

"Oh, shut up," Skuntank shouted. "_You're_ the one who doesn't deserve to live, you murderer!" He then launched a Flamethrower attack at Unod. He was assisted by Koffing's own Flamethrower and Zubat's Heat Wave attack. Unod effortlessly deflected it at Team AWD, who dodged it in time.

"Okay, everyone stop doing that," Drapion said.

"Yes, no more ranged attacks," Arbok said.

"That way, she'll have nothing to deflect," Weavile said.

"AURA SPHERE!" Pugno shouted, launching his attack at Unod.

"WHAT DID WE JUST—" Team AWD was interrupted by what happened next. To everyone's surprise, Unod wasn't able to deflect Pugno's attack. Her right hand was badly damaged as a result, rendering it useless.

"Look!" Chatot said.

"Her right hand!" Chimecho shouted. "It's hurt!"

"Everyone!" Pelame shouted. "This is our chance!"

"GOTCHA!" Loudred shouted. "HYPER VOICE!"

Everyone then followed Loudred's lead, hitting Unod with their best attacks. Once she was on the ground, Pelame approached her.

"This is it for you, Unod. You'll never get to the Hidden Land. Double-Edge!"

With that final attack, the World Destroyer was brought down to her knees.

"FINALLY!" Loudred said.

"That'll teach you what happens when you mess with the Pokémon world!" Celebi taunted. She turned to the team and used her Heal Bell on them all.

"Well, our work here is done," Skuntank said. "See you fools around." With no further conversation, Team Skull left. Team AWD followed suit.

"Glad we got to help take that monster down," Lopunny said. "If you'll excuse us, we've got treasure to find. Hope to see you all again!" With that, Team Charm went on their way.

"Thanks for all your help!" Pelame said to the departing Teams. "You all did great!" She turned to face the ones who remained. "And so did all of you!"

The remaining group turned to Unod.

"Now," Dusknoir said. "What to do with you?"

"Trying to destroy our world was a really dumb move," Celebi said.

"So, you really are attached to this wretched world, are you?" Unod asked. "The lengths you would go to to save it are wasted efforts, by all rights."

"Not done yet, huh?" Pugno asked, getting ready to attack.

"Oh, I'm very far from done," Unod gloated. "But I'm wise enough to recognize an enemy's trump card when I see it. And since I spotted yours, I forfeit this match."

Everyone was dumbfounded by this announcement, though they weren't buying it for a second.

"She's up to something," Celebi warned. "The moment we take our eyes off of her, she'll strike us right in the back for sure."

"I will be doing nothing like that," Unod said. "I don't need to. After all, you've all ignored your common senses enough to wander blindly into my trap. Willingly, even! Why, by even heading into my path of destruction, you just as good as told me 'Unod, we're yours! Do with us as you please!' And here is where I will oblige your wish!"

"What are you trying to pull?!" Grovyle demanded, his Leaf Blades ready to attack her at the slightest provocation.

"So you won't even allow me to speak to you all?" Unod asked. "I lured you all here to talk to you. By causing me to forfeit a battle, you've earned the right to a discussion with me. And you all know of my insatiable bloodlust by now, so the fact that I decided to admit that I, someone who would do _anything_ to see you all dead, lost to you, who got on my hit-list _just_ for hatching out of eggs, really takes effort. And to see you all throw my trust in you back at me like a weapon really hurts my feelings. You're going to make an old lady cry. Are you all proud of yourselves?!"

"You're joking," Pugno said. "You have no feelings to speak of!"

"Besides," Dusknoir said. "Taking into account all the Pokémon you killed, completely destroying our world in the future, arranging an execution in the Boiling Forest for three of my friends as well as a local you lied about rescuing, using Grovyle as a puppet to kill one of our fellow rookies, the path of destruction you've left directly behind you, and now your attempt to kill all of us in one fell strike, you really are deluded if you think anyone is going to trust you now!"

"Trust me?" Unod asked. "That's a laugh to hear you say, Mister I-nearly-got-a-friend's-soul-destroyed-so-I-could- possess-his-body-and-use-it-to-keep-the-world-ruin ed!"

Dusknoir, Grovyle, Celebi, and the Sableye soldiers faltered at that statement.

"Using Grovyle as a puppet to kill Loyal really was no different from your plan, Dusknoir. Except, exactly how many Pokémon were _you_ planning to kill?"

Grovyle was hoping this information would be revealed at a time where Dusknoir had successfully gained everyone's trust. That hadn't happened yet as Pelame and Pugno still had their doubts, making this revelation come at the worst possible time.

"Pugno, Pelame, and probably the whole of Wigglytuff's Guild, right? Anyone who would dare change the future, resulting in the removal of your existence, right? There's no depth you wouldn't have sunk to in the name of self-preservation! And you were very close to success. Grovyle would have been your puppet, but he wasn't! By using him to kill Loyal, I succeeded where you failed! And even better, I didn't have to use trust as a weapon to coax him into compliance with my demonic intentions! And it's a good thing I didn't, because trust turned out to be the weapon that did you in when it mattered most! Dusknoir, you lost that time, because…" she pointed at Grovyle. "…YOU TRUSTED HIM!"

"Unod," Pelame challenged. "I can't believe you think we're going to believe any of what you—"

"She's not lying," Grovyle said. He looked as though he had lost all hope.

"What she said about me planning on using Grovyle as a puppet after destroying his soul," Dusknoir admitted. "She's right. I really did plan to do such a thing."

Pugno and Pelame couldn't believe what they were hearing. They wanted to deny it.

"No," Pelame said. "Grovyle wouldn't lie to us like that. Never!"

"I'm sorry," Grovyle said, falling to his knees. "I deliberately left that part out of my explanation that time in the café."

"Grovyle, don't you say that!" Pugno said. "Don't let Unod do this to you!"

"Unod's not doing anything," Celebi said. "I knew this, too. I kept it a secret from you, too."

"STOP IT!" Pelame screamed. "STOP PLAYING INTO UNOD'S HANDS!"

Celebi started to glow. "I'm sorry," she said. "But I have to show you the truth. I'm taking you both to when it happened."

Pugno and Pelame found themselves in a vision of the incident on the Ice Mountain. The truth of the incident that turned Dusknoir over to the right side. The time Dusknoir attempted to have Grovyle's soul destroyed by the mountain's energy as part of his plan to use Grovyle as a puppet to sabotage the effort to save Temporal Tower.

"Unod's tampering with this," Pelame said. "We're seeing what she wants us to see."

"No you're not," Celebi said. "This actually happened."

"No, it didn't!" Pelame shouted. "It didn't, damn it! IT DIDN'T HAPPEN! IT DIDN'T—"

Celebi slapped Pelame across the face as hard as she could.

"YES IT DID!" Celebi said, feeling truly furious at Pelame. "IT DID HAPPEN!"

"No…"

When the vision ended, Pelame and Pugno came to terms with it.

"Why…"

Pelame collapsed to the ground in tears. Grovyle, Celebi, Dusknoir, and the Sableye soldiers couldn't say anything to her, having been overcome by shame.

"Grovyle," she wept. "I can't believe it. Of all Pokémon to do such a thing, why you? Why did you have to betray my trust?!"

"Because trust is nothing but a weapon," Unod said. "It's only good for achieving ulterior motives of the most selfish kind. I think you're familiar with what I'm talking about, Pelame, considering the fact that you did exactly that two years ago!"

"Come again?" Chatot said.

"Darkrai was particularly desperate to see you two dead. As I'm sure you remember, he wanted you two to kill yourselves, something I would love to have seen. It was in Azurill's nightmare that you were broken that news, but your friends at the Guild understood when you told them, Pelame. They convinced you not to go through with it, and you two lived happily ever after."

"Okay, _now_ you're lying," Pugno said.

"Of course I am! Because what she actually did was worse than any lie I could ever come up with! Your Guild friends very well _could_ have understood the problem. They could have done _something_ to help you out, maybe give you some therapy. They could have done anything, _anything_, to help you out. Any chance for them to do anything of the sort was denied to them by you!" Unod pointed at Pelame. "By telling them Darkrai never mentioned a solution, you denied your best friends –one of whom _LIVES_ AND **_BREATHES_** friendship, purity, and trust!— the chance to show you their friendship by being of any help at all! All because you feared they would turn on you and kill you right then and there! Why, if I didn't know any better, you might have been thinking they had become me for that moment!"

Pelame had a hard enough time recovering from the revelation about Dusknoir. She could do nothing to contest this tirade.

"She was just afraid!" Pugno defended. "I was, too! I'm just as guilty as she was!"

"Oh, I know, Pugno," Unod said. "Yet, as hard as this may be to believe, you're the most heinous exploiter of trust in front of me right now."

Pugno braced himself for the incoming tirade.

"Going along with Pelame's lie to the whole Guild was simply a measure to give your friend some assurance. It's just a shame you didn't do that when you were scaling Temporal Tower."

Pugno and Grovyle both knew what Unod was getting at now.

"Pelame was the only member of your traveling party remaining after Grovyle pulled his most reckless stunt to date. The only one you could trust with the truth that you had just learned from Dusknoir. Well, that, to you, was too much to ask. Not saying a word to her about the matter and letting her go along with you on the mission was quite a bold move. And what could your reason have been for withholding the bit of information about you disappearing from history? Did you think her sadness would cause her to abort the mission? I, for one, think that was exactly the case. Which means you did something truly evil to do something truly good: lulling your best friend into a false sense of security, and then breaking her heart by disappearing right in front of her! No attempt to soften the blow, no coming clean before the fact."

Pugno had nothing to say. No one could say anything in response.

"Trust turned out to be your greatest weapon. Even I'm shocked to see how effectively each of you used trust to harm one another. It may not be as significant as what the guilty parties I've already exposed have done, but rest assured that none of you are worth trusting. Because, at any moment, either you will be attacked by trust, or you will be the attacker using trust as your go-to weapon."

With nothing left to say, Unod teleported away. All the Pokémon simply stood there, utterly stunned at what had just been told to them. Pelame was on the ground, weeping at all of these revelations.

"Pelame…" Pugno tried to comfort her.

"**GET AWAY FROM ME!**" Pelame roared. "**ALL OF YOU ****_LEAVE ME ALONE_**!"

Dimensional Holes opened near the other Pokémon, separating them all from each other, and leaving Pugno, Pelame, Grovyle, Celebi, the Sableye soldiers, and Dusknoir on the mountain.

"Pelame, did you just…" Grovyle said, never getting to finish his question.

"Shut up, you lying piece of nothing!" Pelame screamed. "It's bad enough that **_HE_**…" she motioned toward Dusknoir. "…betrayed my trust. But you, a Pokémon who wanted to save the world, who **_VALUED_** life and friendship and trust, did the same thing?!"

"That was for—"

"Dusknoir's sake, I know. You wanted to manipulate me into giving him another chance by purposely withholding the most important part of the explanation. Exactly **_WHEN_** were you going to tell me that part, huh?!"

"I was, Pelame. I needed to wait until—"

"The 'right time,' right?! Let me tell you something, Mister I-Still-Trust-You-Assailant! The right time was in the café, when you were telling us why your worthless skin was spared by Arceus!"

"Hey, that's low!" Celebi said.

"KEEP OUT OF THIS, CELEBI!" Pelame turned back to Grovyle. "I guess you took some manipulation lessons from Dusknoir, because you certainly fooled me into thinking you were my friend. No true friend would do this sort of thing at all! So you just get away from me! Now!"

"Grovyle," Dusknoir said. "Let's go. Let's give Pelame time to come to her senses."

Grovyle nodded in agreement, not knowing what else to say. But Celebi could bring herself to speak.

"You know, Pelame," Celebi retorted. "You've really turned into a stubborn, unreasonable jerk in literally a second! _You're_ the one who played into Unod's hands!" With that, Celebi followed Grovyle, Dusknoir, and the Sableye.

"Pelame," Pugno said. "That was no way to act near your friends."

"Friends?" Pelame seethed. "Didn't you hear me?! They're _NOT_ my friends! And neither are you!"

"What? Why?"

"Oh, okay. So it wasn't enough hearing it from Unod, but now I have to tell you?! Well, fine then, listen up! You broke my heart!"

Pugno was saved the trouble of asking how he did such a thing.

"You had _SO MANY_ perfect opportunities to tell me that you would disappear from history when time went back to normal, but you took **_NONE_** of them! You were perfectly fine with keeping me in the dark about the whole thing, which made it hit me REALLY hard when it actually did happen! I'm thinking you really don't trust me at all!"

"I do trust you—"

"Then why didn't you tell me earlier?! I'm listening!"

"I didn't tell you because… I somehow got it in my head that the news would make you sad enough to quit the mission we were on."

"Well, that just says it all, doesn't it?! You didn't think I valued life enough to go through with the mission that I'd condemn the future to paralysis just to keep you in existence! And what exactly stopped you from trying to persuade me to finish the job should I _REALLY_ have considered quitting?!"

Pugno couldn't answer that question with anything but a simple "I don't know."

"And I rest my case! Some friend you turned out to be, Pugno, breaking my trust just like Grovyle! You really don't value friendship at all!"

Now Pugno felt angry and needed to respond.

"Very funny, Pelame! You're just as bad as I am, lying right to the faces of the entire Guild! Thinking that they would kill us just because some Cresselia imposter told us we needed to die was enough for you to betray _THEIR_ trust!"

"Why you—"

"You certainly value life! Your own, that is! And you'd lie to the Guild just to save your own hide! Talk about betrayal of trust! Why, you're just as guilty as Dusknoir in that department!"

**_"THAT'S IT!"_**

Pelame lunged at Pugno, biting him as hard as she could. Pugno countered with a Force Palm to her face. She recovered from that and came at him with her Iron Tail attack. He sidestepped it and hit her with an Aura Sphere, which she dodged and came forward with her Swift attack.

"I wish I'd never met you, you little S.O.B.!" Pelame shouted.

"Same to you, you self-centered, trust-breaking hussy!" Pugno shot back.

With nothing else to say, the two headed down the mountain in separate directions. From their sides, they both took off their Exploration Team badges and threw them at each other.

Sneasel, who was watching the whole thing from the battle up to the argument from the sidelines, opened a Dimensional Hole and went through it.

* * *

**A/N: For some reason, the site won't let me fix that one instance of the word "ruined" that appeared in Unod's obnoxiously long nickname for Dusknoir (it keeps coming out as "ruin ed"). Sorry about that.**


	8. Chapter 8 - Sneasel's Chance

_In Team Space-Time's last adventure, the Guild Crew was joined by Teams Skull, AWD, and Charm for the battle against the World Destroyer. Though the battle was won, the words she left upon her defeat has left Team Space-Time with broken spirits. The Team soon disbanded, and started on the way home, if it could be called that anymore._

* * *

Chapter 8 – Sneasel's Chance

* * *

The Dimensional Hole deposited Grovyle, Celebi, Dusknoir, and the Sableye at Craggy Coast.

"What is _WRONG_ with her?!" Celebi asked, still furious at Pelame. "Since when did she get to be so stubborn?"

"Nothing is wrong with her," Dusknoir said. "Unod got into her mind, just as she planned to."

"Wait," said one of the Sableye. "I remember her saying something about a trap. Are you saying that her entire path of destruction from the Boiling Forest to Fogbound Lake and beyond was just a gambit of hers to get us all to meet her so she could mess with us?"

"Exactly," Dusknoir said. "We were all fooled, and Pelame was the one who suffered the most for it."

"It's not just her though," Celebi said. "Unod laid into Pugno, too. And also you, Dusknoir. Grovyle as well. In fact, I'm relieved that she stopped at Pugno and Pelame when she could've torn into the Guild crew, too."

"She never meant to do that, though. Pugno, Pelame, and all of us were the targets that are of the most significance to her."

"Why, though?"

"Did you see that power Pelame was using during the battle?"

"Yes. It appeared to be the only thing that Unod couldn't do anything against. Do you happen to know what that power is?"

"I do not. However, Unod is harmed by it, and she also can't deflect it like she did everyone else's attacks. Unod undoubtedly knows something about Pelame that we don't, and she's likely trying to make Pelame lose that power."

"But couldn't she just steal it, like she did with Pugno's Dimensional Scream?"

"It must not be that simple, Celebi."

"I see. So, since she couldn't directly steal that power from her, she decided to break her spirit with lies as an indirect way to take that power away."

"Yes, she did break Pelame's spirit, but not with lies."

Celebi did a double-take at that statement.

"What Unod described in each of her tirades really happened."

"Well, I know the Icicles part happened."

"And so, too, did the incidents she got on Pugno and Pelame's cases about. Rather than lying, she used the truth to her convenience. Take it from me; the truth is a more dangerous weapon to use for manipulation. Unod didn't need to lie to get her way, so she didn't."

"But I did," Grovyle added to the conversation from where he was. He sat at the shore of the coast, looking down at the water in shame.

"You were right, Dusknoir. There really was no hiding the truth from them, and Team Space-Time is now suffering for that mistake I made. I should have come clean with them from the beginning!"

Celebi floated over to Grovyle as Dusknoir followed. The Sableye soldiers stayed put as ordered.

"Grovie," Celebi said. "You weren't trying to manipulate anyone. In fact, you didn't even lie about what happened in the Icicle Forest. You just didn't mention it at all."

"But isn't that the same as lying?"

"Well, kinda. But the thing is, it was a white lie. It was a lie told with only the best of intentions. You just wanted Dusknoir to be welcomed by the others, so that's why you did what you did. And don't forget that I did the same. I was just as quiet as you were about it, if not quieter."

"I may still be fairly new to the concept of friendship," Dusknoir said. "But I know a strong bond of friendship when I see it. If it's Pelame you're concerned about, don't be. She'll come to her senses soon enough. She won't stay mad at her friends forever."

"He's right, Grovie. They'll soon forgive you for this. After all, they forgave you for that time in Crystal Cave when you—"

Celebi was interrupted by Dusknoir clearing his throat. This caused her to realize her mistake.

"Anyway, though, we're all still friends, Grovie. It'll take more than a tirade from Unod to split us up!"

Grovyle finally felt reassured. "You're right, Celebi," he said with a smile. "Thanks."

"No problem, friend!"

A Dimensional Hole suddenly opened underneath Grovyle, making him fall into it. Before Celebi, Dusknoir, or the Sableye could give chase, a familiar voice stopped them in their tracks.

"Stay right there, all of you!" The creator of the hole appeared in front of it soon after the announcement.

"Sneasel?!" everyone shouted in surprise.

"I said stay there!" Sneasel shouted. "Grovyle is of no concern to you now that I've separated all of you!"

"Wait a minute," Celebi said, realizing something important. "It was you! You opened those Dimensional Holes to separate everyone after Unod left!"

"You stayed on the sidelines waiting for your chance!" Dusknoir said. "Were you always planning this?!"

"Though you're right, it's none of your business what I'm doing," Sneasel said. "I have a score to settle with Grovyle, so just stay away from me."

"But what did Grovyle ever do to you?" Celebi pleaded.

Sneasel closed the Dimensional Hole. "Don't you remember?" she asked. "He killed my sister."

"He did that against his will," Dusknoir said. "You heard Unod admit that as she was calling me out."

"That doesn't matter!" Sneasel shouted, on the verge of tears. "Look, I know he was being controlled at the time. I know Unod lied about that. But he was in charge of Loyal's safety! I trusted him to keep her safe, but instead, she died for my trust!"

"Sneasel…"

"Be quiet! Grovyle has to suffer for Loyal's death! Don't any of you try to stop me! I don't want anyone else involved in my mission!"

Sneasel opened another Dimensional Hole and went through it. It closed before anyone could pursue her.

* * *

The Dimensional Hole deposited Grovyle in the middle of the Treeshroud Forest. He was immediately greeted by a bunch of hostile Pokémon infected by the "Dark Blessing." They all struck at once. It proved futile against someone as quick as Grovyle, who beat them all down in a timely manner. Although he faltered right after, considering the battle he had just been a part of. The defeated Pokémon teleported away.

Grovyle caught sight of Sneasel falling out of a Dimensional Hole nearby. This served to distract him from a "blessed" Vespiquen who took the opportunity to use a darkness-infused Poison Sting on him. The attack landed on the back of his neck, poisoning him instantly. He managed to get free of the attacker and made a break toward Sneasel, who was being attacked by a "blessed" Ninetales. Grovyle pulled Sneasel out of the way before a darkness-infused Blast Burn could fry her. The poison was starting to weaken him, but soon, the two refugees found safety in an alcove near the riverbank. Grovyle took that moment to eat a Pecha Berry he found on the way, getting rid of the poison instantly.

As Grovyle was keeping a brief lookout for danger, Sneasel prepared to strike him down. However, something was stopping her for the moment. Her thoughts went back to her sister, uncovering an old memory.

* * *

"_When I grow up, I want to be an Explorer!" said a young, but tall Sneasel._

_"An Explorer?" mused a young, short Sneasel. "Why in the world would you want to have such a stupid job?"_

_"What's so stupid about making discoveries and finding treasure?"_

_"Uhh…well…because treasure is what we _already_ find every day! We don't need any stinking badges to give us the so-called privilege of getting treasure!"_

_"But don't you want to make discoveries that you'd be known for? Like that 'Hidden Land' that a member of Team Space-Time recently returned from? I want to see places like that."_

_The younger Sneasel got up from her seat and approached her sister._

_"Okay, sis. Let's suppose for a moment you actually do go through with that pipe dream and somehow succeed at becoming an Explorer. Will you really be happy doing the same thing every day?"_

_"It won't always be the same thing. Some days will be simple treasure hunts. Others could even be rescue missions, or even missions to take in bad Pokémon. Heck, I'd give anything to be able to not feel powerless in front of bad guys."_

_"I think I get it now; it's because of that time Mother had to be rescued by that pathetic Team Tasty, right?"_

_"Well, kinda. I still wish I could've been able to do something about it."_

_"Well, you could've! And you can still! But you know what you don't need in order to do that? An Explorer Badge! It's just a piece of jewelry, sis! You can make yourself a better Pokémon without one! And not to mention it's the much safer method, too!"_

_The older Sneasel had been used to tirades like this, but this time, she heard something that actually made sense._

_"Safer?" the older sibling asked._

_"Oh, come on! Miss I-Want-to-be-an-Explorer doesn't even know about the mortality involved in being an Explorer? I would've thought you knew that quite a few dead Pokémon in the world were Explorers. And not to mention the wannabes that got frozen in time. What makes you think I'd want you to become a part of those statistics?!"_

_The older Sneasel finally understood now._

_"Little sister, if I were to become an Explorer, I could gather some reliable Pokémon to keep me safe. Since my safety is your number-one concern, I'll let you be my second in command. How does that sound?"_

* * *

_"But then, a minion of Darkrai killed my mother for refusing to take part in his plan to kill Team Space-Time and that Cresselia. I never forgave Exploration Teams as a whole for letting that happen, but I gave them one more chance by letting my sister be a part of Team Space-Time."_

Sneasel's thoughts went back to Loyal's time training at the Guild, from the beginning to the time she demanded Grovyle keep her safe.

_"He couldn't, though. Unod used him to kill my sister. But…was it really…his fault? Did he…?"_

Sneasel relaxed her posture, canceling her attack.

_"Of course it was! Was that not clear before?" _said an intruder in her mind Sneasel instantly recognized as Unod.

_"But, wasn't he really trying to save my sister? From you?"_

_"He didn't, though. You know that betrayal of trust is to be punished, so punish him now while you have the chance!"_

"The coast is clear for now," Grovyle said, completely unaware of what Sneasel was just doing. "This is our chance to get out of the forest with no interference from those possessed Pokémon."

Sneasel snapped back to reality just in time to hear Grovyle's announcement. She followed without a word. The two traveled down the riverbank, away from any danger. Along the way, Grovyle caught a glimpse of Sneasel's face. Her expression seemed to be a mixture of anger and sadness. Though he was clueless about where the anger could be coming from, he understood where her sadness was coming from. Sneasel still missed her sister dearly.

_"Loyal must have been the only one who mattered to her,"_ Grovyle thought. _"She trusted me with Loyal's safety, and I failed her."_

Further on down the riverbank, the two picked a spot to rest. Sneasel was still struggling with herself, unsure if she should really go through with it after all. Grovyle had been nothing but a friend to her recently, and she could tell how truly guilty he felt that day when Loyal died.

_"Of the gifts the Dark Blessing has given you," _Unod said directly to Sneasel's mind. _"The ability to recognize an opportunity to kill someone should have been one of them. If you truly have this ability, use it now, while his back is turned!"_

No matter how much she wanted to, Sneasel just couldn't do it yet. She decided to let Grovyle finish quenching his thirst using the river.

_"He at least deserves a final drink,"_ Sneasel decided. _"And some last words."_

After Grovyle finished drinking from the river, Sneasel decided that it was time to act.

"Grovyle," she said, breaking her silence. "Wasn't I able to trust you with my sister's safety?"

For a long time, Grovyle knew this question was coming. Still, he wasn't prepared for it, nor would he have ever been.

"I thought I could, but I turned out to be wrong."

"I tried to, Sneasel," Grovyle said. "I tried to resist Unod's power, but nothing was working."

"It was always her dream to be an Explorer, and I feared she'd die someday if that dream was ever realized."

"And because of me underestimating Unod's power, that fear came true. I shouldn't have gone with her at all. I should have stayed as far away from her as I could to prevent such a thing from happening. But since I did go with her, it happened. But what can be done about it now? Nothing, and it pains me that such is the case! I want to see her again just as much as you do."

"And you will!"

Sneasel tapped deeper into her "Dark Blessing" power than she ever did before, to the point where an evil aura was being exuded from her body. In a heartbeat, she managed to land around fifteen Faint Attacks on Grovyle. Having already been in several battles that day, Grovyle didn't even have the energy to fight Sneasel back. Before he could collapse to the ground, something held him up by the leaf on his head.

"Sneasel," Grovyle said. "It was you… You're the one who separated us…"

"No matter what the circumstances were, I trusted you with Loyal's safety," Sneasel seethed, advancing on a suspended and helpless Grovyle. "Unod may have been Loyal's actual murderer, but you had a hand in it. She may have lied about you doing it of your own will, but she was telling the truth about your attack doing Loyal in. No matter what anyone says about it, the fact is clear: _you_ are the reason Loyal died!"

"Don't you think I know that?!"

"There is no bringing her back into the world! The only thing you can do to make up for it is to join her in the afterlife!"

Sneasel raised her claws, preparing a lethal finishing blow. Something was trying to prevent her from doing so, and Grovyle could see it in her tear-soaked eyes. Her expression still had anger, but it had more sadness to it.

"Don't do this," he pleaded. "Think of your sister. She wouldn't want you to do this. She wouldn't want you to succumb to Unod's lies and become her servant. She used your sister's death as leverage to pass the 'Dark Blessing' on to you. Stop now before it turns you over to her completely! Please!"

The "Dark Blessing" wasn't letting Sneasel listen to Grovyle's words. "THAT'S ENOUGH!" she roared as intensely as she possibly could. She raised her claws and prepared her finishing blow. "GUILLOTINE!"

Grovyle could see that a part of Sneasel didn't want to do this, but the "Dark Blessing" had effectively silenced any moral objections she might have had. He shut his eyes as her killing blow came at him.

* * *

_"Heh, me? Second-in-command? You couldn't possibly pick a worse Pokémon to give such a prestigious position to," said the younger Sneasel, playfully batting her sister's head-feather._

_"Oh, no, I've made my mind up," said the older Sneasel. "However, there's one rule I will impose on you."_

_"Okay. Shoot."_

_"No reckless and unethical behavior. Which means no stealing, no bullying those weaker than yourself, and the most important thing of all: no matter how angry you get, no matter how much you think they deserve it, no matter how much they actually _do _deserve it, _no killing another Pokémon._ Is that clear?"_

_"Very clear, sis. No blood will be on these claws. Not now, and not ever, no matter what."_

_"Excellent. Welcome to Team Sharp!" The older Sneasel gave the younger sister a Moon Stone fragment, pretending it was an Exploration Team Badge._

* * *

At the last second, Sneasel remembered her promise to Loyal from their childhood. Her killing blow stopped just short of Grovyle's neck. However, she wasn't retreating from her stance. Her expression softened as she stared Grovyle down. She could see it now: the regret he felt for being helpless as her sister died in front of him, and the shame of being near her only living relative. What right did he have being near the one precious Pokémon that poor Sneasel left behind? She couldn't finish this poor Pokémon off after all, which didn't please Unod at all.

_"You have him where you want him, Sneasel!_" said a voice that made Sneasel's entire body tense up. "_Are you going to kill him like your sister would have wanted you to, or not?!"_

_"No, I'm not,"_ Sneasel responded. _"He did nothing but be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I may have made a mistake trusting him with Loyal's safety, but I know now how sorry he is for it."_

_"I see_," Unod said. "_Then it's good your sister is dead, if to spare her the sight of the spineless coward you became when it really mattered."_

Grovyle suddenly summoned enough strength to jump and deflect a dark energy attack with his Leaf Blade attack.

"Needless to say, you've disgraced her and me all at once!" Unod taunted, finally showing herself. "Your sister's death was a blessing, because it got her away from you!"

At this, Grovyle furiously attacked Unod with what little remaining strength he had left.

"You stay away from her!" he shouted. "You've caused her and me more than enough grief to last a lifetime!"

Sneasel couldn't believe what she was seeing. Grovyle, who she just attempted to kill, was sticking up for her. He was even willing to risk his own life to save hers.

Unfortunately, Grovyle didn't manage to inflict any damage on Unod before she lashed out with a surprise counterattack that pushed himself and Sneasel into the water. The current started to carry the two downstream directly into dangerous rapids. Grovyle dove under to pull Sneasel and himself out of the way of Unod's ongoing barrage of ranged attacks. He managed to fight the current for just long enough to take an electric shot that was headed for Sneasel. The water amplified the attack, and Grovyle lost all ability to move due to Paralysis. Luckily for the both of them, Unod left them for dead after taking the shot.

Even though they were both being carried down the river and battered against a few boulders, Sneasel was still frozen, comprehending the events that just happened. Grovyle was that close to being killed by her own claws, yet he still acted to save her life. He really was sad to see her sister die in front of him, and he really did feel remorseful that he couldn't do anything to prevent it. She understood now what life meant to him. She decided to return the favor, and she dove down into the depths of the river to rescue the Paralyzed Grovyle. By the time she reached him, he was beginning to drown.

"Sneasel…" he gargled, seeing her come to his rescue just as he lost consciousness.

Sneasel was starting to see black spots in her vision as she was carrying Grovyle to the surface. But she was determined to save Grovyle's life. Even if she had to drown instead of him, she was not going to let Grovyle die the moment after he saved her life in more ways than one.

Eventually, they both reached the surface. Sneasel brought Grovyle ashore and resuscitated him. As soon as he came to and coughed the water out of his lungs, he ate a Heal Seed Sneasel had left for him to heal his paralysis. He then found a Dimensional Hole nearby.

"That will lead you back to Treasure Town," Sneasel said. "Go through it."

"Thanks, Sneasel," Grovyle said. "But aren't you coming, too?"

"No. I can't, not after what I just tried to do to you."

"But you came to your senses before you could—"

"I know. But… look, I can't face the others right now. I've… I've got a lot to think about. I've got a lot of things to sort out, okay? So, just go home for now. I'll be okay."

Grovyle reluctantly decided to oblige. Before entering the Dimensional Hole, he turned back to Sneasel to let one more thought be known.

"Whatever you plan to do, I wish you the best of luck. We'll all be waiting for you back at home. Also, I'm sure your sister is proud of you for saving me today."

Sneasel froze at that last comment. For the first time in a span of time she couldn't even remember, her heart felt warmed. She turned back and smiled at Grovyle, who smiled back at her.

"See you soon, my friend," Grovyle said as he entered the Dimensional Hole.

Even though the Hole disappeared, Sneasel waved goodbye at where it was.

_"He called me his friend."_

* * *

**A/N: Sorry for the delay, but I hope this chapter was worth the wait. To tell the truth, this was one of the points of the story I was most excited to get to in the writing of it. I hope I did it justice.**


	9. Chapter 9 - Back to the Grindstone

_In the last adventure, Sneasel started to have second thoughts about killing Grovyle. When the time came to make the kill, Sneasel stopped herself, causing Unod to attempt to do the job herself. Her own overconfidence led her to fail, and Sneasel came to Grovyle's rescue. At her insistence, Grovyle entered a Dimensional Hole leading back home. Sneasel, meanwhile, left for parts unknown._

* * *

Chapter 9 – Back to the Grindstone

* * *

Several Dimensional Holes appeared and deposited all the Pokémon who left to confront Unod back to Treasure Town. Everyone arrived safely, except for Sneasel, Pugno, and Pelame.

"Grovie!" Celebi shouted. "Are you all right? Sneasel didn't rough you up too badly, did she?"

"Actually—" Grovyle started.

"Where is she?" Dusknoir asked. "She seemed fully intent on killing you, yet concerned that someone else might get in her way."

"In fact," said a Sableye. "She kinda looked like she didn't actually want to do it."

"And she soon realized she didn't," Grovyle finished. "I don't know what made her stop, but the ordeal left her almost delirious. She sent me back using a Dimensional Hole and told me she had things to do. And I think she might have sent you all back here with Dimensional Holes, too."

"But doesn't Sneasel have the 'Dark Blessing' in her?" Chatot asked. "You don't think she's going to abuse that power?"

"She isn't," Grovyle said. "I think she may be trying to get rid of it."

"Well," Sunflora said. "Whatever she does now, I hope she'll be okay."

"All we can do," said Guildmaster Wigglytuff. "Is hope for the safety of our friend, and await her return."

At that moment, another Dimensional Hole opened and deposited Pugno and Pelame into Town Square. The group was confused to see them going separate directions, rather than traveling together as they used to. Pugno approached the group while Pelame went to Sharpedo Bluff.

"Welcome home, friend!" Guildmaster Wigglytuff shouted gleefully.

"Don't call me that," Pugno said. "Please, just don't."

"Hey, Pugno," Bidoof said, noticing something missing. "Where's your badge?"

"It's gone. Team Space-Time is no more."

"WHAT?!" Loudred shouted. "DISBANDING A TEAM?! HOW CAN YOU DO SUCH A THING?!"

"Did you run that by Pelame?" Chatot asked. "There's no way she would be okay with such a rash decision!"

"Ask her, then!" Pugno snapped. "She's the one who disbanded the Team! And furthermore, she's not my friend anymore. If she knows what's good for her, she'll just stay away from me!"

"Did something happen?" Guildmaster Wigglytuff asked. "You can tell us."

"No, I can't," Pugno said. "I'm sorry, but I just can't right now. I'm going to bed."

Pugno started up the stairs to the Guild.

"Hey, Pugno," Chatot called. "Isn't your home that way?" He pointed toward Sharpedo Bluff.

"No, that's _her_ home," Pugno seethed. "I'm moving back into the Guild." He continued up the path until he eventually reached the Guild.

"Guildmaster," Chatot said. "You're not going to allow that, are you?"

"Yes," said the Guildmaster. "His friendship with Pelame hasn't ended. No friendship does. But sometimes, friends can get into fights with each other."

"Oh, don't I know," Chatot said. "You and I have had plenty of arguments before we started this Guild."

"Yes, we did," the Guildmaster continued. "But, as you know, we made up after realizing how we were acting. Pugno and Pelame just need the time to think these things through. After that, they'll be friendly-friends with each other again."

"The Guildmaster is right," Chimecho said. "Not even Unod can break up a friendship that's as strong as Pugno and Pelame's."

* * *

"Only Unod could have completely ruined everything between me and Pelame," Pugno seethed as he settled into his old bed. "I can't believe I never realized it sooner, how much of a self-centered brat Pelame is."

* * *

"It's all your fault!" Pelame shouted at her Relic Fragment. "If it weren't for you, my life would never have been ruined by that monster! And I also would have been free from that arrogant Pugno!"

Pelame just barely managed to stop herself from throwing the Fragment out of the Bluff, instead choosing to turn in for the night.

* * *

On a different part of the world, Unod left death and destruction behind her. The only things she left alive were the three Pokémon of Team Skull in front of her.

"Why do you all look so shocked?" Unod asked. "You look as though you just saw me destroy an entire civilization single-handedly. Is that it?"

"But that's exactly what you did!" Zubat said.

"And as for letting you three live, it's because I want to present to you an opportunity."

"Sorry, not interested," Koffing said.

"Oh, is that so? What if Team Space-Time's suffering was part of the deal? As I recall, none of you wanted to help them fight me; you just hated me just as much as they did. That was no true cooperation. You hate them, too. You can deny that all you want, but it's already established that that's the truth."

"So what if we do?" Skuntank said. "If what you're proposing was an opportunity to mess with them again, we'd take it. But I'm not an idiot; I know what you actually want. Every Pokémon knows it by now. You just want to destroy everything you possibly can just because you feel like it."

"You didn't want that as well?"

"Of course not! For your information, I happen to value life! Even if it's just my own and probably just a few others, I like having a world to live in! Why, I'd even have my whole Team join those Team Space-Time losers for a chance to bring you down for good!"

"The thing about that, Skuntank is: Team Space-Time would ask you to join them if they wanted you to join. _I don't ask_."

* * *

For the time being, life appeared to be completely normal for the Guild's crew.

"SMILES GO FOR MILES!" cheered the crew.

"Okay, everyone," shouted Chatot. "Time to get to work!"

"HOORAY!"

Even Pugno was motivated to get back to the usual grind. Everything was fine as long as he didn't have to see…

"Pelame, good morning to you," Pugno heard Bidoof say from upstairs. He stayed near the ladder up to the Bulletin Board room to overhear the conversation happening upstairs.

"Good morning, Bidoof," Pelame said. "I see things have settled down lately."

"They sure have, by golly. No one's heard anything about Unod since the fight at Mount Horn."

"She must be up to something. There's no way that would be the last we saw of her."

"Yup. In times like these, we all gotta stick together. I may not know what's best for you, but I think you and Pugno ought to reinstate Team Space-Time."

At that, Pelame's face hardened into a slight glare.

"Not yet. Bidoof…if you're talking about going exploring with Pugno again…I just can't right now. I'm not ready to face him again, and I'm sure he's not ready to face me again."

"YOU'RE DARN RIGHT I'M NOT!" Pugno shouted from downstairs.

"I rest my case," Pelame seethed. "I'll go with you, though, if you want."

"Well, I guess I can't refuse an offer like that," Bidoof said. "How about if we go help this poor boy at the Mystifying Forest out?"

"That sounds good to me. We should bring a Grass Gummi for that Chikorita, just in case."

And with that, they were off.

* * *

Luckily for Pelame and Bidoof, the "Dark Blessing" hadn't infected any Pokémon of the Mystifying Forest. The young Chikorita was simply lost in the woods, all alone and scared. After all the events of the last few days, an easy mission like this was a much-needed breath of fresh air.

"Thanks for all your help," said Chikorita as he was eating the Grass Gummi offered to him. "Isn't it nice to not be bothered by that World Destroyer?"

"Yes," Pelame said. "I guess she's established herself at every corner of the world by now, but it's good to see she hasn't reached this forest."

"I just hope she never does reach this place," Bidoof said. "Or anywhere else, by golly."

"Of course," said Chikorita. "She won't dare come near you and your friends after that beating you gave her last time. I heard that was quite a battle you all fought."

"It was," Pelame said. "But we didn't manage to finish her off."

"So what?" Chikorita asked. "You can all beat her again, just as long as you stick with your friends."

Pelame couldn't let the young Chikorita know how upset that comment made her. Thought she thought she would have been angrier, she still humored the child.

"Back at home," Chikorita continued. "My friends and I do lots of fun stuff together. Playing games, having fun, and even going on Exploration missions with my parents. And with them all by my side, I know I can do great at anything. When my friends and family are standing by my side, I feel stronger."

Pelame felt as if she had been quoted nearly verbatim. She would say much the same thing about Pugno. She got to where she was today because of him, after all.

_"Pugno…"_ she thought, her expression softening. _"Was I too hard on him?"_

From where he was watching, Pugno started to think the same thing.

* * *

"Can't you sleep, Pugno?" Bidoof asked, settling into the second bed in Pugno's old crew room at the Guild.

"Not really," Pugno answered. "I overheard what that Chikorita was saying to Pelame about being with his friends. It got me thinking of all the times Pelame would talk about getting stronger because of me."

It sounded like Pugno was coming around, and was letting go of the doubts Unod instilled in him.

"I got stronger because of her, too. I wanted to make sure she'd succeed in her ambitions, and to be able to protect her when she needed me most. But when Unod came along, I felt powerless before her. And then, even when we all defeated her, she _still _found a way to win. And because of that…I don't really know what to do anymore. Do you have any ideas, Bidoof?"

No one turned to Bidoof for such a thing before. Though he was flattered, he was unfortunately unable to give a satisfactory answer. All he could say was the truth: "Shucks, not really. All I can think of is that we should stick together, like I was telling Pelame this morning."

"Then can you tell me if I've really been a good friend to her in the time I've known her? Where did I go wrong?"

"Well, I think you two are really great friends. You'll work things out sometime. But as far as I'm concerned, you have been a great friend to her, Pugno. And once you two remember that, everything will be fine."

"Wow, Bidoof. That's…deep. You know a lot about being friends, huh?"

"Actually, I was just saying what I thought the Guildmaster would say."

"Well, I think you're right. We should get some sleep now. Tomorrow, I'll speak to Pelame and work this out. Good night, Bidoof."

"Good night, Pugno. I'm glad you're the way you were again."

The two drifted off to sleep in the highest of spirits.

* * *

At the Guild's entrance stood the three members of Team Skull. With no effort whatsoever, they broke into the Guild and stormed into the Guildmaster's chamber. They left the Guild with a sleeping Chatot in their clutches. After repairing the door to the Guild, they absconded with Chatot in tow.

"What…is…?" Chatot said, waking up. As soon as he identified Team Skull, he was fully awake. "INTRU—"

"LETHARGY!" shouted all three of the Team's members at once. Chatot felt his energy leave him in an instant, as he was overcome by every status ailment known to Pokémon.

"You three…," Chatot protested as he started falling asleep again. "Since when…did you get…the… 'Dark…Bless…ing…?'"


	10. Chapter 10 - Power's Ambiguity

_In the last adventure, Pugno and Pelame continued their usual work, though while still distancing themselves from one another. A quick mission in the Mystifying Forest taken by Pelame and Bidoof got them thinking twice about it, though. Team Skull whisked Chatot away in the middle of the night._

* * *

Chapter 10 – Power's Ambiguity

* * *

_"Sis,"_ Sneasel thought, continuing her way out of the Treeshroud Forest. _"I let you down. I should never have accepted this stupid 'Dark Blessing.'"_

She couldn't get it out of her head. All she could think about was how much pain she caused Grovyle, believing that he deserved to pay for something Unod diabolically forced him to do, and how low she could sink if something wasn't done about it. She had heard multiple times before that there was no such thing as pure evil. She heard that mantra from her family, her sister's old friends, and even Guildmaster Wigglytuff. The Guildmaster had said that to Loyal when asked about why Outlaws do what they do.

_"They're wrong,"_ Sneasel thought, having experienced evidence contradicting the Guildmaster's words. _"There _is_ such a thing as pure evil, and it's Unod! And me, if I can't get rid of this power!"_

* * *

_"Pokémon are all creatures who have free will," said the Guildmaster. "They're free to make choices with their lives. Unfortunately, some decide to make the wrong choices, and it's up to the ones who made the good choices to make sure the wrongdoers don't cause too much trouble. That's why Exploration Teams track down Outlaws and bring them to justice."_

_"That's the way it should be, Guildmaster," Loyal responded. "I've never tolerated injustices of any kind, and neither has my sister, despite how she may seem."_

_"Injustices should never be tolerated. However, the Pokémon who decide to do such things are to be pitied. They're not born bad, after all. They do those things out of any number of reasons: greed, desperation, confusion, you name it. But out of all possible explanations, legitimate desire to cause harm hasn't been one of them. I was once friends with an Outlaw, but because he was such a friendly Pokémon, I never knew that about him."_

_"I see your point, Guildmaster. I remember hearing news about that Drowzee who abducted that boy from Treasure Town. Looking at that Drowzee today; one would never know that he once lived on the wrong side of the law. Even that Crobat I encountered today probably wouldn't have been the way he was if it weren't for that weird 'Dark Blessing' thing."_

_"And whatever this 'Dark Blessing' is must have a reason for its actions."_

_"I hope you're right, Guildmaster."_

* * *

_"I'm living proof that neither one of them was right about the 'Dark Blessing.' It has to be destroyed. And if I have to die with it, then so be it."_

Sneasel finally exited the forest, having encountered little to no trouble along the way. Not even she knew where she wanted to go next. As a result, her travels took her to the area between Treeshroud Forest and Crystal Cave. The few trees scattered along the path reminded her of how Grovyle's natural abilities were described by Pokémon such as Chimecho, who know lots about the many Pokémon species. She imagined Grovyle jumping from branch to branch. Though it was all in her head, she found herself impressed.

_"I hope he can still do that."_

She and Loyal had heard lots of things about Team Space-Time, one of which being that Grovyle was the enemy they were after.

_"It's ironic. He was their enemy once, but then became their friend. Dusknoir was the opposite, but then became a friend himself. As for me, I just started out as a bully. And then I turned to evil when Loyal died, thinking that I could make her happy by making Grovyle pay. If I didn't stop myself, how far would I have gone?"_

Within that same memory of Grovyle being a former enemy was the location. As she approached Crystal Cave, her mind kept going.

_"If I could turn _to _evil, it has to be possible to turn _away_ from evil. But if I were to try, would I succeed? I want to. I don't want to be this way anymore."_

The "Dark Blessing" had stayed away from the cave, leaving Sneasel's mind as the only thing causing any trouble. Fatigue was also setting in, as she had been through a lot that day. Azelf, the guardian of the cave's lake, found her at the entrance to the secret cavern.

"Are you lost?" Azelf asked.

"Kinda," Sneasel answered. "It's more like I don't know what to do."

"Well, I don't know how much help I can be, but I'd like to try to help you out. What is it you need?"

After a lengthy but to-the-point explanation of everything that happened since her sister joined Team Space-Time, Azelf came to a decision.

_"Uxie. Mesprit. Meet me where I'm currently located."_

Having received Azelf's psychic signal, the other guardians appeared. After filling them in on the details, they all heard Sneasel out.

"I want to be rid of the 'Dark Blessing' completely, but I don't know how I should go about it."

"I see," Uxie said. "I've dealt with the World Destroyer myself. I lost my lake to her. But it's infuriating to think she'd do what she did to you."

"Unfortunately," Mesprit said. "We can't remove the 'Dark Blessing' from you."

Sneasel's heart sank immediately at those words. "Then," she said. "Do you know someone who can? Such as Cresselia?"

"Cresselia can't remove it, either," Azelf said. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid that 'Dark Blessing' is staying."

Sneasel had already been crushed to hear that the three guardians were powerless against it. Hearing that Cresselia, a Pokémon who could repel darkness, was just as powerless was too much for her to take.

"Thanks anyway," Sneasel said, leaving the cave.

* * *

Since leaving the cave, Sneasel could hardly concentrate on anything. Everywhere she turned, she saw Grovyle. It seemed as though her mind wasn't letting her forget about that incident. Either that, or it was the "Dark Blessing" up to its usual evil.

_"Grovyle. I hope you're okay."_

Finding a spot on the bay near the Aegis Cave, Sneasel turned in for the night.

* * *

_"THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS TO _ANYONE_ WHO MESSES WITH MY SISTER!" Sneasel screamed at a Teddiursa who had been bothering her older sister. The little bear ran off crying._

_"You all right, sis?" Sneasel asked, turning to her sister._

_"I'm fine," the older Sneasel said. "Thanks for your help."_

_"Don't mention it. No one messes with my family."_

_The two had made it home with no further trouble. That night was when the older Sneasel told the younger about her ambitions._

_"Any reason why you want to be an Explorer?"_

_"Lots of reasons. I feel as though there are things I have to do in the world, and being an Explorer will allow me to fulfill all of them. You know how I don't like seeing Pokémon in danger, right? Explorers do things about that. They're rescuers, too. In fact, that Team Space-Time recently rescued a little boy from a Drowzee once. Remember?"_

_"Kinda."_

_"I want to do things like that. I also want to be strong enough to do those kinds of things on my own. You're amazing for looking out for me, but you and I both know you can't always be doing that. Like it or not, you can't be everywhere at once. Also, one of these days, you could really hurt yourself. For once, I'd like to be able to stick up for _you_, because it can't always be how it is now. You know what I mean?"_

_"Yeah. You'd like to be able to stick up for yourself, instead of always relying on me. I understand that, and that's a good thing to seek. And I think you can do it."_

_"Really?"_

_"Absolutely."_

* * *

_"If only I could've avoided holding a grudge against Explorers over my mother's death. What made me think of blaming Explorers for that, anyway?"_

Sneasel awoke to that thought and went down to the water to bathe herself. As soon as she went back ashore, her mind was spoken to.

**"Are you struggling with power you don't want?"**

Though it was a similar sensation to how the "Dark Blessing" spoke to her, it wasn't the "Blessing" talking.

**"Head south to meet me at the World Abyss. I will make everything clear to you there."**

Sneasel was in too low spirits to be cautious about this proposal, causing her to start going to the World Abyss. Once she reached the entrance, a towering ethereal figure greeted her. The Pokémon was floating. It had eight black wings tipped by red barbs. Its head had a yellow crest which was the same shade of yellow that adorned its chest area. It had spikes on its lower body. Its body was grey on the back, and black and red on the front.

"My name is Giratina," said the Pokémon. "I detected your power approaching my domain. I recognize it as the power of the World Destroyer."

"It is," Sneasel responded. "I accepted it from her, thinking that it would help me avenge my recently deceased sister. But she just wanted me to kill the Pokémon she blamed my sister's death on. I didn't go through with it."

"And so you wish to be rid of that power?"

"More than anything. And if you can't get rid of it, then I won't resist you killing me. If I can't be rid of the 'Dark Blessing,' then I'm better off dead."

"I cannot get rid of the 'Dark Blessing,' nor will I oblige your wish for death."

"Then why did you want to see me?!"

"To teach you a lesson."

With that, Giratina pushed Sneasel into the Abyss's entrance. The exit sealed itself behind her.

**"Use your power to reach the pit unscathed."**

Sneasel didn't oblige that instruction. She instead relied on her natural techniques, which only served to temporarily get any opposition out of the way. They quickly recovered and resumed chasing her.

**"They are creatures of the light. Only your dark power can get them away from you. Use it."**

"NO! I don't need dark power to live!" She quickly received punishment for those words when an Umbreon blinded her with a Flash. The Umbreon then clamped down on her shoulder while she was disoriented. Nothing she did could make that stubborn Umbreon release its oral grip. A little bit of blood was drawn, and Sneasel gave up the fight, refusing to use her dark power even to save herself.

"I don't want this power anymore!" Sneasel sobbed. "I don't want it!"

Though the Umbreon eventually released her, Sneasel drifted off into unconsciousness.

* * *

_"I think I'll call the team 'Team Sharp,'" the older Sneasel said. "Because, I'll be leading the team, and I have sharp claws."_

_"Cool name. Will you be hiring Pokémon with claws, too?" the younger Sneasel asked._

_"Not exclusively. Anyone will be welcome."_

_"Neat. And what will you be specializing in?"_

_"Rescues. I'd like a Team that's well-known for rescuing those in need. Whether it be from Outlaws or natural dangers, my team will be there to aid them."_

_"Personally, I think I'll stick to treasure hunting. But if you want to be known for rescuing, go for it. I'll be rooting for you."_

* * *

Sneasel awoke in a circular room lit up by what appeared to be stars. What little light there was in the room was being reflected off of gemstones embedded in the walls, floor, and ceiling.

"Why do you want me to keep this wretched power?!" Sneasel demanded of Giratina, who was standing before her.

"No power is wretched," Giratina said. "Not even the 'Dark Blessing.' It can be quite helpful, actually."

"HELPFUL?! HOW?!"

"First, you must tell me something. What were you using your power to do?"

Sneasel had to think about that one. No matter how much thought she put into it, she couldn't think of any time she harmed anyone except for Grovyle. All other times, she had used her power for convenience.

"I didn't kill Grovyle with it, but my attempt to was the only harm I ever did with it. The only other thing I did was use Dimensional Holes to travel around. I also sent the Guild crew and Team Space-Time to safety using them. Other than that, I never really bothered. What's it to you, anyway?"

"The one time you used it to harm another, you couldn't bring yourself to go through with it. And using your power to make Dimensional Holes is quite a feat, I must say. It sounds to me like you did much more good than harm using your dark power."

Sneasel couldn't counter that statement. All she could do was elaborate about another Pokémon she knew.

"Dusknoir isn't infected with the 'Dark Blessing,' but he used to serve the darkness. Though it was a different kind, it was still darkness. He possesses some dark power himself, but he uses it for good nowadays."

Sneasel was starting to understand Giratina's lesson.

"For your final test, use your dark power to escape this!"

At that, the room brightened to a blinding extent. It was as though Sneasel was looking directly into the sun itself. No matter where she turned, she couldn't escape it. No matter how much she tried to cover her eyes, the light was still blinding her. She had no other choice but to escape the World Abyss entirely. She tried opening a Dimensional Hole. The Hole stayed opened for only a second before Giratina closed it. When it looked like Sneasel couldn't escape after all, the room suddenly darkened back to its usual look.

"What happened?" she asked. "What did I do?"

"You tapped into your dark power," Giratina answered. "Even if it was something miniscule, it still counted. You didn't try to harm me or yourself with it. All you did was try to escape to the safety of your friends. In doing so, you have passed my test."

"But what exactly were you testing, anyway?"

"Your willingness to use your dark power."

Sneasel needed no further explanation. She finally understood.

"Well, thanks. I sincerely mean that, sir."

With that, she bid Giratina farewell and left through a Dimensional Hole.

* * *

As Sneasel traveled through the Hole, she contemplated the past few events.

_"The Guildmaster may have been wrong about pure evil, but I'm happy that I don't fit that category."_

Sneasel emerged at the Treasure Town crossroads, where she immediately met up with Grovyle. The two were very happy to see each other again. Sneasel recounted the past few events.

"I knew your journey would go well, Sneasel," Grovyle said. "I'm proud of you."

"Thanks, Grovyle," Sneasel said. "That journey turned out to be just what I needed. I learned something very important from it."

"I'm listening."

"Even with my dark power, I can still be a good Pokémon. Good Pokémon use their power, no matter what kind of power it is, to do good services to the world. Even the light has been misused by bad Pokémon before. Power is only as good or as bad as whoever or whatever is using it. Well, I've made my choice: I'll keep the 'Dark Blessing' and use it to help my friends!"

"Excellent choice, Sneasel. I'm impressed with your newfound wisdom."

"By the way, where is everyone?"

"They're off rescuing Chatot. He was abducted from the Guild last night. I stayed here to keep an eye on Lapras, since I've heard Unod is targeting her, too."

Sneasel was glad she returned at this moment.

"All right, then. I'll help keep her safe!"

"Thanks, Sneasel. It really is good to have you back."

* * *

**A/N: This is one I'm really proud of. I'll admit to getting a bit emotional writing some of this.**


	11. Chapter 11 - Team Space-Time's Return

**A/N: The timeframe may have gotten a bit weird in the past few chapters, so here's clarification on that: Chapter Nine happened simultaneously with the first part of Chapter Ten, and the later part of Chapter Ten happened during the first part of this chapter. With that said, enjoy!**

* * *

_In the last adventure, Sneasel's journey led her to discover that her acceptance of the "Dark Blessing" could be a blessing rather than a curse. She returned to Treasure Town, where she learned of Chatot's abduction and an apparent plan of attack on Lapras._

* * *

Chapter 11 – Team Space-Time's Return

* * *

As usual in the life of the Wigglytuff Guild, Loudred was the first one awake in the morning. Not once had he disappointed at his job of waking everyone up. His usual "wake up" message had never worn its welcome out. However, today was a day where he had no choice but to say something different this morning.

"CHATOT IS MISSING! EVERYONE GET UP! CHATOT IS MISSING!"

The crew woke up in record time in reaction to that announcement. They assembled to the Audience room at an even faster pace.

"Is it true?" Diglett asked. "Is Chatot really gone?"

"Oh my gosh!" Sunflora squeaked. "We've been broken into!"

"WHAT are we going to DO?!" Loudred asked.

"There's only one thing _to_ do," said the Guildmaster. "We're going to find our friend!"

"My thoughts exactly," Pugno said. "But where should we start looking?"

Suddenly, Diglett burrowed to the sentry position in reaction to hearing the grate creaking.

"Grovyle detected!" he shouted. "GROVYLE! YOU MAY ENTER!"

"WAIT a sec, squirt!" Loudred said aghast. "YOU can't give that order!"

"He may enter," said the Guildmaster.

And enter, Grovyle did. He arrived in the audience room carrying a note.

_"To whoever feels like offering their life (or lives) to me,  
I know how much you value the so-called 'gift' of life. It's honestly baffling. No matter what you decide to do in the following situation, you'll just prove my point on the matter. Deciding not to come to your dear friend Chatot's aid will result in his watery death at the Hot Springs, proving that the only life you all value is your own. Come to his aid after all, and you'll show me that you disregard your own life in the name of valuing another more. Either way, you won't win; neither the argument nor the fight will be won by you nothings. The choice will be left to you, anyway. Do not disappoint me, should you decide to make the right one!_

_Sincerely,  
Team Skull"_

The note was met with confusion from the crew.

"I remember those three," Dugtrio said.

"Hey, hey! But they never spoke so cryptically before!" Corphish added.

"Come to think of it," Chimecho said. "I remember only one creature that ever used the term 'nothing' as an insult."

"So do I," Grovyle responded. "Which gets me thinking that this note was written by Team Skull, who are now possessed by the 'Dark Blessing.'"

"But they helped us fight Unod, didn't they?" Sunflora asked. "She caught up to them soon after, didn't she?!"

"Golly, Grovyle," Bidoof said. "There's more on the back of that note."

Grovyle immediately flipped the paper over and read the post-script.

_"Here's something else to keep in mind: you get to choose which friend to save. As you know, Chatot is set to be drowned at the Hot Springs. Your other friend Lapras has been marked for death by electrocution, as per the weakness of her type. And should you all decide to split up and try to rescue both, that will just serve to un-prepare you for your task. Oh, I wonder what you will do?"_

"We will go save Chatot!" said the Guildmaster. "Those who are coming with me step forward!"

Only Grovyle stayed behind, electing to protect Lapras.

"Grovyle, won't you need help?" Chimecho asked.

"Yes," Grovyle answered. "I will be contacting Dusknoir, Celebi, and the Sableye to help arrange a zone defense for Lapras."

"It's settled, then," said the Guildmaster. "You and your friends will protect Lapras, while we go save Chatot. We'll meet back here at the Guild when all is said and done."

"Agreed," Grovyle answered. "We'll thwart this plan of Unod's at both turns!"

"Excellent. Now, everyone! Time to go save our friend!"

With a resounding cry of "HOORAY!", the crew left for their mission.

* * *

At the town's Hot Springs, Team Skull began negotiations with Torkoal, the town elder.

"We've remembered everything you said about the Hidden Land two-and-a-half years ago," Skuntank said. "And now, you are going to reveal it all again for someone else."

"Yeah," Koffing added. "The World Destroyer is waiting, so don't delay any longer. Tell us how to enter the Hidden Land!"

"I'm sorry, but I must refuse," Torkoal answered. "The World Destroyer isn't allowed there!"

"There's no boundary in the world that can keep her out of anything!" Zubat gloated.

"Nothing except her own ignorance," Torkoal retorted. She shall never know how to get there, no matter what you thugs do to me on her behalf!"

"But we don't want to do anything to you," Skuntank scoffed. "It's what will happen to this guy if you keep your kisser shut."

At Skuntank's signal, Koffing and Zubat removed Chatot from the bag they carried with them to the Springs. He was still paralyzed, rendering him helpless in the current situation. His beak was tied shut by an evil thread. Torkoal was visibly shocked to see such a sight as Chatot in his current condition.

"Don't you hurt him!" Torkoal shouted.

"Don't worry, we won't," Skuntank said. "We'll just leave him in the water until he sinks and drowns if you don't tell us."

"Yeah," Zubat added. "And the same will happen to all the Pokémon who come to this spring!"

"You wouldn't—"

"STILL!" Skuntank shouted, looking toward a Vigoroth. The "Dark Blessing" move known as "Still" paralyzed Vigoroth instantly. He fell into the water and sank to the bottom.

"We're still waiting," Skuntank crooned menacingly.

Torkoal had no choice but to come clean.

"YOOM-TAAH!" shouted an approaching Pokémon, scoring a direct hit on the three members of Team Skull with a Hyper Voice. Corphish dove in to the spring and rescued the Vigoroth. Both Vigoroth and Chatot got their paralysis healed by Chimecho's Heal Bell. Pugno them made short work of the evil thread that was gagging Chatot.

"That's right, mister Torkoal!" Chatot said. "Don't tell those three thugs anything! Also, thanks for saving me, everyone."

"Pugno," Skuntank seethed. "Still bothering me, I see."

"What were you expecting?" Pugno retorted. "You've reached a new low, accepting the 'Dark Blessing.' Is the famous 'Noxious Gas Combo' not effective anymore?"

"No, but this is. LETHARGY!"

Every Pokémon in the general vicinity of the Springs became afflicted immediately. What looked like a victory decided by numbers versus numbers suddenly became a dangerous situation courtesy of malevolent power. Skuntank wasn't careful this time, causing the move to affect his own fellow teammates. He couldn't care less about that as he approached Pugno, who was now at his mercy.

"I've had it with you, you little twerp!"

"Iron Tail!" shouted a Pokémon everyone knew all too well. Pelame delivered a solid strike to Skuntank's face with her attack.

"You keep away from my best friend!"

"LETHARG—" Skuntank didn't get to use that move again before Pelame struck him with another Iron Tail attack. She followed that with a Quick Attack, and finished with a Double-Edge attack. Skuntank was overwhelmed, and couldn't fight any more.

"I'll remember this," he seethed. With the last bit of his energy, he opened a Dimensional Hole and went through it, dragging Koffing and Zubat with him. The hole shut soon after their departure. Pelame turned to face the Guild crew and gave them all Heal Seeds and Sitrus Berries. After their snack, everyone was revitalized.

"Thanks for saving us, Pelame," Pugno said.

Pelame didn't respond. Pugno expected to see anger in her expression, but instead, he saw regret.

"You're welcome," she answered. "And…Pugno." She approached Pugno with tears in her eyes.

Now was the chance she took to finally say the words she'd been wanting to say for a while. "I'm so sorry!"

Pugno hugged her to offer comfort. "I am, too," he said. "You're my very best friend. I could never completely forget how much you mean to me, Pelame."

"Oh, Pugno, I couldn't go on without you! I can't believe I ever drove you away!"

"Well, I'm here now. And nothing will drive us apart ever again."

Pelame wiped her tears away and replaced her sad expression with a determined one.

"You're right, Pugno. Starting now, Team Space-Time is back in business!"

"That's the spirit, Pelame!"

At that, the Guild crew applauded wildly, welcoming the two back as an official Exploration Team.

"Here are your badges," Chimecho said, giving Pelame and Pugno their old badges. "I found them on Mount Horn where you left them, where Celebi told me they were left."

"HEY!" Loudred yelled. "SPEAKING of Celebi, we need to get BACK to Treasure Town! Grovyle and his friends could use some BACKUP!"

"Oh my gosh!" Sunflora squeaked. "That's right! They're protecting Lapras!"

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Chatot asked. "Let's go help our friends! Shall we, Guildmaster?"

"Indeed!" the Guildmaster answered.

"HOORAY!" everyone shouted, starting on the way to Treasure Town.

"You were right, Guildmaster," Chatot whispered. "Pelame and Pugno's friendship couldn't be broken."

* * *

"You're hardly even worth her time!" Arbok taunted.

"Why she's so certain of you failures being threats is beyond me," Drapion teased.

"No matter," Weavile mocked. "Our bait worked, and we'll be done with you very soon."

Grovyle, Dusknoir, Celebi, Sneasel, and the Sableye had been struck with the dreaded "Lethargy" curse, rendering them utterly helpless before Team AWD. Lapras had never really been targeted for death; rather, it was a lie to lure Grovyle and his friends away from the Guild crew. In their current state, all they could do was wonder.

"Why?" Celebi pleaded. "Why would you want the 'Dark Blessing?' Don't you know what it'll do to you?"

"Feh! None of my concern!" Weavile countered. "If it means living another day, your deaths are fine with me!"

"But that's the problem!" Sneasel shouted. "There will be no more days left for anyone if Unod gets to the Hidden Land!"

Team AWD suddenly froze at those words.

"Temporal Tower is what she's after," Dusknoir explained. "If it gets destroyed, time will stop. The planet will paralyze, and she'll have full control of the world."

"But she won't stop there," Celebi continued. "She won't be happy just by paralyzing the planet. She wants to destroy it completely! You can't want that to happen! You can't!"

The Guild party arrived to the sight of Team AWD being pleaded to, and it looked like the three rogues were listening. Chimecho healed Grovyle's party with her Heal Bell.

"And she likely won't stop at destroying this planet," Grovyle elaborated, feeling refreshed enough to stand up again. "She'll keep repeating her cycle of destruction until she's the last remaining life form! And she'll accomplish that goal if she gets to the Hidden Land!"

**"What do you mean, '****_if_**** I get to the Hidden Land?!'"** said an uncomfortably familiar voice to everyone's minds. Everyone turned to see a hologram-like image of Unod standing on the water.

The image pointed her finger further down the horizon. There, the real Unod was standing on Lapras's shell, forcing her to take her to the Hidden Land by the use of her evil threads as puppet strings.

**"You all have my gratitude for distracting yourselves with your rescue missions. To think that was all I needed to do to get you off my back while I reached the Brine Cave. Oh, if only I thought of more to do with you!"**

"Screw you, you old—" Sneasel started, only to be blasted with a Lethargy curse.

**"Well, interruptions don't matter anymore, anyway. I've won unquestionably. And it's all thanks to all of you distracting yourselves with the problems I've created for you! Thanks again, and accept this parting gift. And I'll be sure to tell Dialga you said hello!"**

At that, the image flew over Treasure Town, where it exploded into smaller orbs of evil power. The orbs fell on Treasure Town, leveling it completely as Unod cackled in absolute victory. She and Lapras disappeared from view, having already entered the Hidden Land.

* * *

"It was foregone from the start, Dialga. You and your tower are mine now!"

Unod stood triumphantly over Dialga and prepared her finishing blow.


	12. Chapter 12 - Unod's Madness

_In Team Space-Time's last adventure, Guildmaster Wigglytuff led the crew to the Hot Springs to rescue Chatot from the possessed Team Skull. Grovyle gathered his friends from the future to defend Lapras, who was also targeted to be killed. Little did all parties know about it all being a method devised by Unod to keep them distracted while she broke into the Hidden Land. Unod's victory is close at hand._

* * *

Chapter 12 – The World Destroyer's Madness

* * *

Pelame refused to give up, even in the bleak scene she was now observing. Even though Unod infiltrated the Hidden Land and utterly annihilated Treasure Town, Pelame still wasn't going to accept defeat. In the heat of the moment, she decided to do something she never thought she'd do.

"Dusknoir!" she said, turning to him. "You have to make a Dimensional Hole leading to the Hidden Land! It's the only way we can save Dialga! Please, help us!"

"Unfortunately," Dusknoir said with heavy regret. "That's an ability I don't have."

"But, you intercepted us at the Hidden Land by using a Dimensional Hole! Don't you remember that from two-and-a-half years ago?"

"I wasn't the one who made that Dimensional Hole. Master— that is, Primal Dialga did that at my request. I wouldn't have been able to make my last stand against you and your friends if it weren't for him."

"You mean he never taught you how to do that yourself?" Pugno asked. "Nor did he even give you the ability?"

"That is correct."

"Celebi, then!" Pelame turned to Celebi with another idea. "You can teleport, right?"

"Yes I can," Celebi answered with less enthusiasm than everyone was used to hearing.

"Then can you teleport us to the Hidden Land? It's the only option we have left!"

"That, I can't do." At that, Pelame was starting to worry. Her concern grew with Celebi's next words. "I can't teleport us that far, not even with a Passage of Time. And even if we somehow had the time to track one of those down, it could only take us forward or backward through time. And if we tried going backwards through time, we'd just be going back to square one: Unod would track us down and put us through all of this pain and suffering again, and it would all end with her beating us all and taking our world away from us."

"Listen to yourself, Celebi! Are you really going to give up?!"

"None of you are," Sneasel suddenly said. "Stop her, now!" With the last of her energy, Sneasel opened a Dimensional Hole. Pelame and her friends could not have been more grateful.

"Get her before it's too late!"

"Don't worry," Pelame said. "We will. Thanks, Sneasel!"

Pelame, Pugno, Grovyle, and Celebi entered the Hole. Dusknoir turned to the Sableye to give them a special order.

"Take Sneasel to the Guild," he requested. "After that, help the townsfolk rebuild Treasure Town." He then turned to the Sableye who stood one quarter-inch taller than the others. "If I don't return, you'll be in charge of the others."

"Thanks, sir," said the Sableye. "But I hope it won't come to that."

"If everything goes right, it won't. Unod will fall one way or another." With that, Dusknoir joined the others. The Dimensional Hole soon closed.

"Good luck, Lord Dusknoir. Good luck, everyone. Give Unod Hell."

* * *

At the Pinnacle of Temporal Tower, Dialga detected an intruder. Unod greeted him.

"You wasted your time going to all this trouble to protect your realm and your tower," she taunted gleefully. "If all those protective measures couldn't keep Darkrai out, nor could it keep out the pests from Team Space-Time, then what good is it to hide all of this between split-seconds?"

"THE PURPOSE WAS TO PROTECT TIME ITSELF FROM VILLAINOUS SCUM LIKE YOU." Dialga responded. "I'VE SEEN WHAT YOU HAVE DONE TO THE WORLD. YOU CANNOT BE FORGIVEN FOR IT!"

"I wasn't even going to ask you to do anything of that sort, Dialga. All I was going to do was a few simple things: kill you, destroy your tower, and then conquer the world. Oh, but I won't stop at conquering the world. I've got better things to do than simply sit on a fancy chair, barking out orders to witless subordinates, and executing heroic-types who think they can get away with opposing me."

Unod raised her left arm and transformed it into a lance.

"First on my list is killing you. So, being the Temporal Pokémon, the Guardian of Time, the Master of Temporal Tower, and the King of the Hidden Land; I expect you to lose to me with dignity!"

"VERY WELL. IN THE NAME OF POKEMON ALL OVER THE WORLD, I WILL DEFEAT YOU!"

Dialga started with a Draco Meteor attack, hurling falling meteors down at Unod. She caught all of them and deflected them at Dialga. He was prepared for this, however. After destroying the deflected meteors with well-timed Dragon Claw attacks, he struck with a Dragon Pulse. Though it was a direct hit, Unod didn't even flinch at it. Instead, she lunged at him with her arm-lance. She locked blades with Dialga's Dragon Claw. Dialga pulled away just before Unod could blast him with a point-blank bolt of Diabolic Lightning, which went harmlessly into the sky.

"What's wrong?!" Unod taunted. "Is that all you can do?! You're a disappointment to your duty!"

"YOU AREN'T GOING TO CLAIM MY TOWER!" Dialga declared. "YOU'RE NOT DOING MUCH TO CLAIM IT, ANYWAY!"

"Is that so?"

With that, Unod tossed a small evil energy orb over her shoulder. It sailed toward the Hidden Land's main continent. Before it could land, Dialga intercepted it with a Swift attack. Unod disappeared and then reappeared, flying over the continent. She threw dozens of energy orbs down at it, all of which were intercepted by Swift attacks. She still continued her barrage, and Dialga still intercepted, giving Unod the chance she was waiting for. She unexpectedly shot Dialga in the chest with a single meteor from when she absorbed his Draco Meteor attack. As it had become a Demon-type attack upon her assimilation of it, it was supremely effective against Dialga. His momentary stagger was all she needed to pelt him with a relentless assault of Demon-type attacks until he couldn't stand anymore.

"YOU…WILL NEVER HAVE MY TOWER! EVEN IF…I HAVE TO DEFY FATE…I WON'T LET YOU…DESTROY THE WORLD!"

"It was foregone from the start, Dialga. You and your tower are mine now!"

Unod stood triumphantly over Dialga and prepared her finishing blow.

From out of a Dimensional Hole came a much-needed intervention. An Aura Sphere hit her right hand just as she got ready to blast Dialga's head with a Fatal Laser. She turned to see Pelame, Pugno, Grovyle, Dusknoir, and Celebi ready for a fight. And with Unod's right hand out of commission again, this was their best chance.

"Shadow Ball!" Dusknoir shouted, firing his best attack. "You stay away from my Master!"

"MASTER?" Dialga asked.

"It's a long story," Celebi answered. She turned back to Unod. "Ancient Power!"

"Energy Ball!" Grovyle roared, blasting Unod with his attack.

"Double-Edge!" Pelame shouted, scoring a direct hit on the World Destroyer.

Finally, it was Dialga's turn to unleash his signature attack. With a mighty roar, Unod was blasted back into a pillar, which collapsed and fell directly on her. The Roar of Time attack had won the battle.

"Heal Bell," Celebi said, tending to Dialga. The Master of Time was able to stand up again.

"I THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP, EVERYONE," Dialga said. "THE WORLD DESTROYER WOULD LIKELY HAVE CONQUERED MY TOWER IF IT WEREN'T FOR YOUR TIMELY INTERVENTION."

"It's good that we are finally rid of her," Dusknoir replied. "She was far too dangerous to be left alive."

"She's caused pain and suffering like you wouldn't believe," Grovyle added. "But we'll suffer her no more now."

"I'm glad we weren't too late," Celebi said. "Things looked utterly hopeless for a while."

"Thank goodness for Sneasel," Pugno said. "If it weren't for her, we would've lost everything for sure."

"And now," Pelame said. "We're finally safe again. Dialga, do you mind if we help you rebuild your tower? I see it took just a little bit of damage."

Dialga was flattered by the offer. "THAT IS A KIND SERVICE TO OFFER, PELAME. HOWEVER, THIS IS MY JOB. THE TOWER DID NOT SUSTAIN TOO MUCH DAMAGE. THIS WILL TAKE ONLY A MOMENT."

With a single slight growl, Dialga used his restorative power to fix what little damage was done to the tower. As a result, the tower went back to its usual pristine condition. Not even the cadaver of Unod remained there.

"Hey, wait a sec," Celebi said. "Wasn't Unod crushed under that pillar? Where's her…you know?" Celebi didn't want to say the word "cadaver."

"She has that 'Pyreflame' ability," Pugno answered. "Maybe she set herself to burn her own body if she ever died."

Unfortunately, such optimistic (yet macabre) guesses were proved wrong with one simple action. From above him, Dialga was directly blasted by a strange beam shaped like a snowflake. It was only the size of Dialga's head, but the blast did its job. Dialga's surprised expression was frozen on his face before it crumbled away into nothing, along with the rest of his body. Soon, nothing stood there but an evil void. As an absolutely mortified Dusknoir shouted a nearly heartbroken cry of "MASTER!", the shards of Dialga's body dissolved into the void. Pelame and friends couldn't believe what they had just seen. Nor were they prepared for what followed.

"I told him that I would have this world," said a voice that was all too familiar with everyone. "But, like I said before, I have more to do than conquer this stupid place."

No one else could utter a word. They were absolutely stunned that Unod was apparently still alive.

"Better than conquering is destroying, after all. That is the fate all life is to be subject to. Life is too trivial to be allowed to be, anyway. Life is a triviality no creature is allowed to own."

Unod finally rose out of the void and glared at the Pokémon standing before her.

"_Especially_ not the likes…," she seethed as a giant aura enveloped her. **_"…OF YOU!"_**

Dusknoir, enraged at the death of the one he once called his master, launched a Dark Pulse at Unod. Before it could even connect with the World Destroyer, the attack dissolved into nothingness.

"But…how did she?" Celebi asked, never getting to finish her question before Unod started in again.

"You five, who are the only ones who continue to oppose me even now," she continued. "You will serve as examples of the world's fate."

As her power grew stronger, she suddenly stood up perfectly straight. The sleeves of her regal-looking garments disappeared to reveal arms blackened by what appeared to be fur, which was in reality miniature quills. From her back, a strange object started growing just below her right shoulder. When it finished emerging from her, it became clear that it was a featherless wing, tipped with a blood red barb shaped like an arrowhead.

"You're not human!" Pugno shouted.

"Then," Pelame started. "Are you a Pokémon? You'd have to be!"

"OF COURSE I'M NOT A POKEMON," Unod said with a regal vocal reverb similar to the kind Dialga spoke with. However, Unod hurt everyone's ears doing so. "AND PUGNO IS CORRECT; I'M NOT A HUMAN. IT'S NOW FINALLY CLEAR TO YOU ALL THAT I AM A BEING SUPERIOR TO BOTH HUMANS AND POKEMON."

"Who do you think you are?!" Celebi demanded, tossing an ultimately ineffective Solarbeam at Unod. "You think you're Arceus or something?!"

"I AM A BEING THAT TRANSCENDS EVEN ARCEUS, CELEBI. I AM YOUR ANGEL OF DEATH! THE JUDGE, THE JURY, AND THE EXECUTION OF LIFE ITSELF! **I AM ****_UNOD, THE WORLD DESTROYER!"_**

The aura was now fully absorbed by Unod. She resumed speaking normally.

"All life repulses me, and it is to learn its place. I will now personally guide the five of you to where you truly belong; where you were all always destined to belong!"

"My goodness," Celebi said, utterly floored at the monologue she just had to listen to. "Unod, you are. Utterly. Insane. There is seriously not a single screw in your mind that isn't loose. I thought you were crazy before, but now I'm honestly questioning how a gibbering insane creature like you even functions."

"Simple," Unod answered. "By the deaths of others. And your deaths will be much-needed sustenance for me!"

Pelame and her friends couldn't even remotely prepare themselves by the time they were struck directly by a dozen X-shaped beams simultaneously. Before they could recover from that, Unod let loose a Lethargy curse that hit everyone excluding Pelame. The laser shot that followed would have gone through Pelame's brain if her reflexes were any slower, though her left ear was shot through as a result, leaving her with a small perfectly round hole near the tip of her left ear. When she landed from her reflexive jump, she turned to see she landed right on Unod's right foot, and was promptly kicked off by it. With the wind knocked out of her as a result of being kicked in the stomach following the initial kick, Unod promptly went in for the kill.

Grovyle, recovered from the Lethargy curse by a timely Heal Bell from Celebi, used his Leaf Blades to block when Unod attempted to bring her wing down on Pelame.

"Safeguard!" Celebi shouted, putting a protective field on Grovyle just in case Unod attempted to paralyze him.

Instead of doing what Celebi thought she'd do, Unod disappeared. Grovyle soon found himself unable to breathe, as well as feeling like something was throttling him. He was lifted into the air by his neck as it became clear that Unod had caught him by the neck with her energy whip. Her wing pinned his arms behind his back before he could make a futile effort to sever the whip, effectively making him helpless as he started suffocating. Everyone else's attempts to save him were instantly deflected, and they were knocked out of commission as a result.

"Grovie…" Celebi lightly sobbed, feeling bad for her inability to save her friend.

Grovyle's face started turning blue, and his struggling against Unod was dwindling. Unod then brought him up close to herself. Without loosening the whip's grip, she suddenly clamped down on his left shoulder. She bit as hard as she could and then pulled until a cracking sound was heard. It was the worst pain Grovyle ever felt in his entire life. His agonized screaming was the last sound he uttered before Unod finally let him fall down to the tower, where he landed roughly on the shoulder that Unod just separated his arm from. Grovyle's arm was still connected to his shoulder, in flesh and muscle only; the bones connecting those two areas had been pulled completely free of each other. For one final attack, Unod blasted him with a jet of pitch-black Sinister Fire. Grovyle had been utterly defeated at that point, but Pelame still had just enough energy to stop Unod from finishing him off.

Unfortunately, all that served to do was remind Unod who she was truly focusing on the whole time. She snared Pelame with her whip and threw her into one of the tower's pillars. She followed that with a lunge with her lance. Pelame dodged the lance, but was hit by the electric shockwave it generated upon it colliding with the pillar. Being instantly paralyzed gave Unod the chance to whip her repeatedly. Once she couldn't stand anymore, Unod approached her and turned her arm-lance back into her normal left arm. From her left hand, she snared Pelame by the neck with Evil Threads and brought her up to arm's length away from her face. She released the threads and grabbed Pelame by her ears. With her right arm, she pulled a sword out of her wing and brought it to Pelame's neck.

"After all your hard work," Unod taunted triumphantly. "You will finally lose it all."

All of Pelame's friends had been thoroughly defeated and on the brink of death themselves. All they could do was watch as Unod had Pelame at her mercy. Pelame herself recognized the severity of the situation. As if resigned to her fate, all she could do was scream in absolute fear. She wasn't just afraid of how painful Unod would make her death; she feared about what Unod would do after she was done with Temporal Tower. She felt as if she had let the whole world down, and it made tears escape her eyes.

"So," Unod continued. "You have nothing else to say but that scream, then? In that case, I'll just finish you off, and then move on to your friends. You should've known better than to—"

"Stop!" Pugno shouted, surprising everyone. Being unable to even move, all he could do was speak. "Don't do it, Unod!"

"Give me one good reason why I should show mercy to my mortal enemy," Unod jeered, only half-surprised at Pugno's outburst.

Pugno hoped to inspire reason within Unod, so he poured his whole heart and soul out. "Pelame," he started. "She's my best friend. My irreplaceable partner. She was the first Pokémon I ever met when I first became a Pokémon myself. She took care of me just as I did the same for her. Every day I've been with her I've become happier and happier to know her."

"Yeah. So? Why would I spare her for that, huh? Get to the point."

"Pelame is more than a friend to me. I love her."

Everyone, including Unod, was caught completely off-guard by Pugno's confession. Predictably, Unod was the only one who didn't have a warm and fuzzy feeling after hearing such a thing be confessed.

"Wow, Pugno," Celebi said. "That was beautiful." She turned to face Unod. "You heard that, right?! He loves her, and it's likely he'll be lost without her!"

"I see," Unod admitted. "Then I guess he'll just have to find another Eevee to develop a crush on! It won't be hard; there's hundreds of Eevees in the world. At least one will sink low enough to return his affections!"

Unod suddenly was holding thin air in her left hand.

"I've got a better idea," said a Pokémon that had just joined the fight. "How about you stop picking on us before I completely wreck your—"

"Sneasel!" Pugno shouted, relieved. "You made it!"

"Thanks for saving me!" Pelame said gratefully.

"You're welcome," Sneasel responded. "I'm back, and ready to kick butt and take names! Thanks to Cresselia here, that is."

"Now is our chance!" Cresselia said, focused on their objective. "Psycho Cut!"

With energy returning to them as a result of the Reviver Seeds Sneasel tossed toward everyone, they blasted Unod with their best moves.

When the dust cleared, they found that the tactic that would have worked before was ineffective now. Unod stood there completely unscathed, looking as though only paper was thrown at her.

"Is it my turn now?" Unod teased. "Because that was a total waste of valuable time that could have gone to me killing you all. Speaking of which—"

"'Speaking of which' nothing!" Sneasel interrupted, launching a powerful dark blast at Unod. Unfortunately, not even that worked.

"I haven't lost a single bit of energy yet during this one-sided match," Unod gloated. "That dark blast of yours did help me, though, so thanks for that."

Sneasel was stunned. She couldn't believe how many steps ahead of everyone Unod constantly was.

"That serves as your punishment for using my power irresponsibly, Sneasel. I'm not only immune to my own power, but it heals and strengthens me when dullards like you dare to turn it on me. Those like you are why I like having total idiots for mortal enemies; they're more help than hindrance to me!"

All of that work and suffering to tame her own "Dark Blessing" was suddenly working against her. Despite this, Sneasel stood firm.

"Fine, then. I'll just have to rely on my natural abilities! Let's see if you factored _that_ in, you witch!"

Unod was then blasted back by a new contender entirely. With another blast following it, Unod fell off the edge of the tower.

"THAT WAS FOR DIALGA!" shouted the new contender, who turned out to be Palkia. "SORRY I'M LATE, SNEASEL."

"No," Sneasel answered. "You came right when we needed you. Thanks, pal."

"She was ferocious before," Dusknoir said. "But in that new forme of hers, she honestly reminds me of Primal Dialga."

"She was even more depraved, though," Grovyle said. "Unlike Primal Dialga, she could think rationally and plan many steps ahead of everyone."

"To be honest," Celebi added. "I think we were safer when Primal Dialga was our enemy."

"Or Darkrai, for that matter," Pugno said. "At least he stayed away from us after we beat him."

"Well," Cresselia said. "Shall we head home now—"

Cresselia never got to finish her question before a pitch-black object impaled her cleanly through her stomach. Unod reappeared in front of her. Her wing pulled itself out of Cresselia and struck her repeatedly like a scorpion stinger.

"STOP IT!" Pelame screamed with her whole soul. "STOP IT, PLEASE!"

Unod wasn't listening at all. The more she attacked, the bigger her smile got.

"SHE'S ALREADY DEAD, YOU ABSOLUTE **MONSTER**!" Pelame roared through her tears.

"The power of my Devastator Forme," Unod crooned. "Do you fear it?"

Cresselia's dead body caught fire and burned up instantly, not even leaving ashes behind. Unod stood over the dying flames.

"Are you angry? Do you hate me? If you don't hate me, then your kindness should rightfully have gotten you killed long ago. Hatred is only a natural reaction to the things I do. But it helps me in the long run. After all, you all made yourselves into my unwitting tools by succumbing to hatred of each other. Remember that, Pelame? 'I wish I'd never met you, you little S.O.B.,' you said to the one who just confessed his love to you."

"Don't listen to her!" Sneasel said. "She's trying to get in your head again, like last time!"

"Grovyle, why did you let it happen?" said a chillingly familiar voice.

"Loyal?" Grovyle asked, turning to see something that made him wish he hadn't turned.

An illusion of Loyal was standing near him, looking terrified.

"Her strings caused you to slice me to bits," said the illusion. "You didn't try hard enough to escape, and because of your weak will…" The illusion then fell apart.

"My sister is dead," Sneasel said. "And you tried to make me kill Grovyle for something you did. And now you're trying to guilt-trip him with your tricks?!"

"You mean you don't love your sister after all, Sneasel? Was letting that green nothing not enough of a disgrace to your sister's memory for you?"

"Letting him live was an honor to Loyal's memory, Unod! She knew a good friend when she met one, and she valued Grovyle as a friend. And now, I will do the same. Ice Beam!"

Unod let the beam get close to her so it could dissolve into nothingness. Sneasel counted on that, and used that opportunity to unleash a Faint Attack that hit Unod directly.

"And, by the way, my name is now 'Blessing!'"

Grovyle snapped back to reality and unleashed an Energy Ball at Unod.

Nothing else after that worked, as Unod's aura grew to an alarming size. The golden yellow clouds of the Hidden Land darkened to a purple-black under her power. A large snowflake-shaped sigil appeared over the entire Hidden Land and was gathering power.

"Didn't she kill Dialga with that attack?" Celebi asked.

"Before a Death Sentence," Unod announced. "The Hidden Land falls!"

The gigantic beam fired and engulfed the entirety of the Hidden Land. All would have certainly been destroyed if a miraculous event hadn't occurred at that moment. Unod called the attack off too late for it.

Somehow, Pelame had generated a divine energy shield around the Hidden Land, protecting it from the Death Sentence beam above. Protection was only a start, however. The beam was absorbed into the field and it fired back at the World Destroyer. When all was calm, she was nowhere to be found.

"Pelame," Pugno asked. "What in the world did you just do?" He was simultaneously relieved, impressed, and confused about Pelame's apparent newfound power.

"I have no clue," Pelame said, just as bewildered as Pugno was. "I felt as though I've always known that ability."

Pelame was suddenly snared by an energy whip, and then she was pulled off of the tower. She was swung around in a perfect circle, but then she suddenly stopped and felt a very thin but sharp object run her through. She could neither breathe nor speak; all she could do was see that she had been impaled through her belly on Unod's wing. The wing impaled Pelame deep enough to come out of her back. Unod licked Pelame's blood off of her wing.

No one knew what could be done in this situation. To their chagrin, it really looked like Unod had finally won. All they could do was watch in shock and despair.

"You came dangerously close to prolonging the world's life," Unod seethed. "But you fell just short of the mark."

Unod reached toward Pelame with her right hand.

"Your alarming development of your Alpha Bloodline abilities is unacceptable to me. I am taking no more chances with you, Pelame."

Unod's right arm split in two, revealing itself to be a giant set of jaws.

"You will die now. And with you will follow the world itself!"

The jaws of Unod's right arm got ready to swallow Pelame whole. Tendrils came from the throat of the right arm mouth and yanked her off of her wing. She was almost at the throat when she surprised everyone by releasing a beam of light from her mouth. The beam hit Unod directly in the throat of her right arm mouth. In pain, the tendrils released Pelame, who was saved from falling to her death by Sneasel opening a Dimensional Hole leading to the tower's pinnacle. She then put up force fields around her impalement wounds.

"Thanks, Sneasel," Pelame panted, catching her breath.

"You're welcome, and the name is Blessing," Blessing answered.

For the first time, it appeared as though Unod was in actual pain. This was the chance Palkia was waiting for.

"BLESSING, NOW!" he shouted.

"Got it!" Blessing answered. At the cue, she opened a Dimensional Hole leading back home. She grabbed everyone with energy threads and pulled them through the portal.

* * *

Treasure Town was still being rebuilt after the attack that befell it not too long ago. Blessing and her friends reemerged at the beach near town, with Palkia appearing nearby. Temporal Tower and the Hidden Land continent appeared over the ocean, as Palkia planned. Pelame launched another Alpha Beam into the Dimensional Hole, which ended up hitting Unod directly and foiling her attempt to chase them to the beach. With her safely back in the now empty Hidden Land, Blessing shut the portal.

"WORLD DESTROYER!" Palkia roared. "YOU WILL NOW PAY FOR TRYING TO DESTROY OUR WORLD!"

With a mighty roar, Palkia unleashed his devastating Spatial Rend attack, detonating the Hidden Land completely. The whole world shook under the attack, but no one except Unod was affected. The sparkling area of the ocean that served as the path into the Hidden Land disappeared.

"Is that it?" Celebi asked. "Is Unod _FINALLY_ dead yet?"

"SHE IS. AND IT'S THANKS TO ALL OF YOU."

Dialga appeared next to Palkia, surprising everyone.

"Master!" Dusknoir said. "It's good to see you with us again."

"So," Celebi added. "Unod couldn't kill you after all, huh? Serves her right for trying to mess with you."

"SORRY ABOUT WHAT I HAD TO DO TO YOUR REALM," Palkia said apologetically.

"I UNDERSTAND IT WAS THE ONLY REMAINING OPTION," Dialga said. "I WOULD HAVE MADE SUCH A SACRIFICE MYSELF. BUT I THANK YOU FOR MOVING MY TOWER OUT OF THE WAY."

"THE THANKS FOR THAT SHOULD GO TO THIS YOUNG ONE HERE," Palkia said, gesturing to Blessing.

"Hey," she said. "I just wanted to teach her a lesson in pain for the stuff she did. Since it was my idea, I figure I should help you rebuild your realm."

"I'll help, too," Pelame and Pugno offered in unison.

"YOUR OFFERS ARE GENEROUS," Dialga said. "HOWEVER, IT IS MY TASK ALONE TO REBUILD MY REALM. WHEN IT IS FINISHED, YOU ARE ALL WELCOME TO VISIT ANYTIME YOU WISH."

"Oh, but just one more thing before you get started on that," Blessing said. "How did you manage to survive Unod's Death Sentence attack?"

"I DID NOT," Dialga answered. "BUT IMMORTAL BEINGS DON'T STAY DEAD. I NEVER WAS TRULY DEAD. BUT I DID SPEND ABNORMALLY LONG REINCARNATING."

No one else (except probably for Palkia) could claim to understand the way immortal beings lived, so they just accepted that explanation without any further questioning.

* * *

That night was spent in Spinda's Café, celebrating Team Space-Time's victory over the World Destroyer. Pelame's injuries had been tended to, and she was perfectly functioning again. She wasn't hampered in the least bit, not even by the permanent scars that her sustained injuries became. A hole near the tip of her left ear and a discolored spot of fur on her back and her belly were the only remaining evidence of the battle she had come away from.

* * *

After the festivities, everyone gathered in Treasure Town square, which had just finished being rebuilt by the Sableye. A Passage of Time was open and ready to take Grovyle's group back to their world. The 95-year trip was generated by none other than Dialga and Celebi's combined efforts. With the mission to save the world from destruction accomplished, it was finally time to say goodbye. Pelame, however, had something else to say as well.

"Dusknoir, wait," she called. "I need to say something."

"Go ahead," Dusknoir said.

Pelame looked at him with sincerity in her eyes. "Look, I know we were once enemies. It made me mad when you admitted you had deceived me and my friends and slandered Grovyle completely. There's no denying that you did some truly horrible things while you served Primal Dialga."

Dusknoir took all of that in stride, though he wasn't happy to be reminded about any moment of those dark times.

"I was completely fooled by you, but lately, I've been a pretty big fool myself. Just because you were once a bad Pokémon shouldn't have made me believe that you'd stay that way forever. After all, even if you were acting a part, you really were a nice guy when we first met. But looking at you now, I don't see the villainous servant of an insane deity acting like the nicest saint. What I see now _is_ the nicest saint."

At that moment, Dusknoir saw something he never would have thought he'd see: Pelame was smiling at him.

"I'm finally ready to forgive you for everything, sir. And, I'm sorry for treating you as coldly as I did."

"All is forgiven, Pelame," Dusknoir responded. "I've never thought ill of you for your behavior. I think you were justified in being cautious of me. But it's good to see that you're ready to make amends. I wish to apologize, too, for all the wrong I've done to you and your friends. Though I'm late by more than two years in doing so."

"No. Sir, it's never too late to be sorry. And I've forgiven you, too. And…" Pelame started to tear up. "I'll miss you."

"I will miss you, too. Pelame, you are a very exceptional Pokémon. You're the kind of Pokémon the whole world should be proud of having in it; a role model for all who aspire to fulfill the noblest of ambitions. I want you to keep unraveling the world's mysteries and satisfying your curiosity of the world's legends. I fully believe that you and all of your friends can do it."

"Thanks, sir. Take care of the future world for me, will you?"

"Indeed, I will. Farewell, my friends."

Dusknoir and the future Pokémon went to enter the Passage of Time. They all took one last look at the world of the past, and then faceplanted on what felt like a solid wall.

"What's happening?" Grovyle asked. "Celebi, something's wrong with the Passage!"

"I doticed," Celebi said nasally, holding her nose in slight pain.

"Master Dialga," Dusknoir addressed the time deity. "The Passage of Time is malfunctioning."

"JUST A MOMENT," answered Dialga. He closed his eyes to concentrate on investigating the problem with the Passage. He looked into its intended destination, and found the reason.

"A PASSAGE OF TIME MALFUNCTIONS LIKE THIS ONLY WHEN THE REQUESTED PATH CANNOT BE TRAVELED TO."

"What?" Pugno asked. "Why can't they travel 95 years forward?"

"I HAVE OBSERVED THE PASSAGE'S DESTINATION. ON THE OTHER SIDE OF IT IS…NOTHING AT ALL. THE WORLD OF 95 YEARS IN THE FUTURE FROM NOW…IT'S BEEN COMPLETELY DESTROYED."

Everyone was shocked at this announcement. Along with the déjà vu of hearing this as the reason Grovyle's crew came from the future, came the fear that they weren't out of the woods yet.

"But Unod is dead!" Celebi shouted. "How can our world still be destroyed?!"

"I AM FORSEEING TWO POSSIBILITIES," Dialga continued. "THE WORLD DESTROYER COULD STILL BE ALIVE. AND IF THAT'S NOT THE REASON, THEN SHE WASN'T THE TRUE ENEMY AT ALL."

"IMPOSSIBLE!" Palkia roared. "SHE COULDN'T HAVE ESCAPED MY ATTACK! NO ONE COULD HAVE! THERE HAS TO BE A GREATER EVIL BEHIND HER! WE MUST LOCATE IT AND DESTROY IT IMMEDIATELY!" With that, Palkia disappeared in a hurry.

"I WILL ASSIST IN THIS INVESTIGATION WHEN I HAVE RECONSTRUCTED MY REALM," Dialga said. "I'M SORRY THE PASSAGE OF TIME FAILED." Dialga disappeared to begin his work.

"Well," Celebi said. "I guess we're staying here for a little while longer. It works out for me; I'm kinda starting to like it here."

"Our peace may have been short-lived," Grovyle added. "But I'll assist any way I can in whatever upcoming battle comes."

"You all have my cooperation, too," Dusknoir added.

"And don't forget us," said the Sableye.

"And us, too," said the entire Guild crew.

"Aww, thanks, everyone," Pelame said. "But let's wait until tomorrow. I need some rest."

"Anything you say," said everyone in unison.

* * *

Pelame and Pugno were more than ready for a good night's sleep after the Hell they had gone through this day. Back in Sharpedo Bluff, they settled into their beds. Grovyle and Celebi were already fast asleep in the two extra beds of the Bluff. Only Pelame and Pugno were up, looking at the moon.

"We were _that _close to losing everything," Pugno said. "Including this beautiful night sky."

"I know," Pelame responded. "Life just seemed to flash before me when all appeared to be lost."

"Not to mention, I almost lost you, Pelame. If Unod had killed you, like she came dangerously close to doing twice…"

Pugno's eyes started to tear up.

"…I don't know…what I would have done."

"Pugno, I feel the same way. If I ever completely lost you, I don't know if I could ever go on."

The two looked at each other after wiping their tears out of their eyes.

"Pugno, it really touched me, what you said when Unod had me at her mercy the first time. And I got to thinking about it."

"I really did mean every word, Pelame."

"I know you did. And I love you, too. Ever since I first met you, I became someone I never thought I could. I used to be the biggest coward ever, but because you came into my life, I am who I am now. I can't even begin to tell you how grateful I am to you for that. You're more than a partner to me, and more than a friend."

The two embraced each other.

"I love you, Pugno."

"And Pelame, I love you, too. Thanks for being such a great Pokémon."

* * *

Not since two months ago had everyone gotten as good a night's sleep as they had just now. Everyone awoke at the same time, ready for another day.

"Good morning, everyone," Pelame said in the happiest mood she's been in in a long time. She was then shocked at the sight of Grovyle. "Whoa! Grovyle, what in the world happened to your arm?! Are you okay?!"

"I'm fine," Grovyle answered. "But I don't know what happened to me yesterday. My arm was perfectly fine until then."

* * *

**A/N: And with that, "The Dark Blessing" ends. However, this is not the end of Team Space-Time's adventures. Stay tuned for the next entry in the "Hope and Faith" saga. And thanks for staying with me with this fic.**


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